]]>If you are researching your ancestry from Minnesota, you will want to use GenealogyBank’s online MN newspaper archives: 114 titles to help you search your family history in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” providing coverage from 1849 to Today. There are millions of articles and records in our online Minnesota newspaper archives!
Photo: sunset over Pose Lake, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota. Credit: R27182818; Wikimedia Commons.

Dig deep into our online archives and search for historical and recent obituaries and other news articles about your ancestors from Minnesota in these newspapers. Our MN newspapers are divided into two collections: Historical Newspapers (complete paper) and Recent Obituaries (obituaries only).

Here is a complete list of Minnesota newspapers in the online archives. Each newspaper title in this list is an active link that will take you directly to that paper’s search page, where you can begin searching for your ancestors by surnames, dates, keywords and more. The MN newspaper titles are listed alphabetically by city.

I began by searching GenealogyBank for William’s first and last names in Maine records specifically, because I know from my notes that William and Eunice were both born there and married in Gray, Cumberland County, Maine, on 10 April 1851.

Source: GenealogyBank

Among the three search results, I found a very interesting Maine Farmer article about patents that gave me a great clue as to what William’s profession was.

]]>Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega provides tips for researching court records and preparing to visit a courthouse to learn more about your ancestors. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

Courthouses hold treasures for the genealogist – but visiting one can be intimidating if you’ve never researched court records in person. It’s important to learn all you can about what the courthouse holds, the procedure for obtaining records, and costs involved. The following are some tips to consider as you think about researching your family history in court records.

What Records Do Courthouses Hold?

Like the description “church records,” the term “court records” is too general. Court records cover a vastly diverse set of records that document our ancestors from America’s early history. “Court records” can include “probate, naturalization, divorce, debt, adoption, guardianship, licenses, appointment to public offices, taxes, civil lawsuits, property disputes, and crimes.”*

What records can you find at a courthouse? Well, the short answer is, “it depends.” Why? Every courthouse is different and the records they hold depend on the location, type of courthouse, and what they retain onsite. In the California county where I live the Superior Court holds records like probates, civil, and criminal cases, but if you want a divorce record you have to take a walk across the street to the Family Court. Some records have been digitized and are available online while others must be ordered and retrieved by court staff. In a neighboring county, some older records from the early 20th century and prior can be found at the county archive.

“ These cases involve violation of laws when an individual (but not society) is harmed, such as property damage, trespass, or libel. In these cases, one or more individuals file suit against other individuals to enforce private rights or to receive compensation for violation of rights.

“ These involve disputes or arguments between individuals and do not involve violation of laws. In these cases, individuals petition the court to reach a fair decision for both parties. Examples of equity action are cases involving probates of estates and property rights. Today this function is mostly handled by civil courts.

“ These involve the violation of laws in which society is or may be harmed, such as drunk driving, theft, or murder. In these cases, the state (or “the people”) file suit against the defendant. Serious crimes are felonies. Minor crimes are misdemeanors.”**

While court records are probably not the first records you should search when beginning a family history project, they are vital as you expand your search for your ancestor to probate records, wills, possible divorces and other cases.

Start Online

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that some records can be found online, either through a third-party website or from the courthouse itself. Always start your search using genealogy websites like FamilySearch. To find court records, see the FamilySearch Catalog and then conduct three Place searches: for the state, county, and town you’re researching. Subjects listed in the Catalog that have court records include Court Records and Probate Records.

Remember that court records may be held in places other than a courthouse. Depending on the type of records and court, you may find them archived at a regional branch of the National Archives and Records Administration (for federal court records), as well as state or county archives.

Don’t forget to also check the courthouse website. In some cases, you may find digitized records or even an index on the court’s website. It’s always best to ask another researcher or to email the court before visiting. You don’t want to visit a courthouse only to find out that records you need are stored offsite or require a search fee and a notification by mail.

Every court has difference rules/policies about records access. In some states, I’ve walked right into the courthouse and been allowed to research and copy whatever I need. In others, like where I live, the availability of records is limited to a paid search and waiting for a letter confirming that the records exist. Do your homework before you visit the courthouse to avoid disappointment.

Going to the Courthouse

If the courthouse does have the records you need, keep in mind a few things:

Dress professionally when you go but consider refraining from wearing white or light colors. Bound court records can be heavy and dusty.

Be respectful of the court staff time. They are there for current cases and may not have time to help you as much as you require.

Be prepared to wait. I’ve waited close to two hours just to fill out a form. On the other hand, court record research takes time, so remember to allot yourself plenty of time for finding what you need.

If you must pay for parking assume you’ll be there longer than you expect.

You may be required to go through a metal detector and/or have your purse or other belongings searched. In some cases, a cell phone may not be allowed in the courthouse.

You will most likely be required to pay a fee for copies. Depending on the amount of records you need, this fee may be substantial. You may want to inquire in advance whether credit cards are accepted, or bring enough cash.

Consider talking to someone who has researched at that courthouse to provide information about what to expect.

Don’t Forget Newspapers Published Court Records & Legal Notices

Don’t forget the importance of newspaper research in learning more about your ancestor’s legal dealings. Various types of articles might exist including schedules for court hearings, individual articles about court cases, and the legal notices found at the back of a newspaper serving notice to creditors, or those that are party to a court case. Search an online collection of newspapers such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives.

Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 13 February 1849, page 3

It was only after I found a legal notice about my ancestor in the newspapers that I was able to collect all of the relevant court records.

]]>St. Paul, Minnesota, was buzzing on 14 March 1884 because an unusual and very important visitor had arrived: Sitting Bull, a chief and holy man of the Hunkpapa Lakota Indians, wanted to see firsthand a large city and the ways of the whites.
Photo: Sitting Bull, 1885. Credit: National Archives and Records Administration.

Once a powerful warrior and a fierce defender of his people and their land, Sitting Bull had been one of the principal leaders of the large encampment of Lakota and Cheyenne that George Armstrong Custer attacked on 25 June 1876. That ill-fated attack cost Custer his life, along with 267 of the men he led that day.

Despite the victory over Custer, most of the Indians involved in that fight had surrendered and accepted reservation life within a year of the Battle of the Little Big Horn – but not Sitting Bull. He led his band into the safety of Canada in May 1877. Four years later, however, destitution and hunger drove them to finally give up, and Sitting Bull and his people returned to the U.S. and surrendered on 19 July 1881. On 10 May 1883, they were transferred to the Standing Rock Agency, and tried to adapt to reservation life.

Photo: Fort Buford’s Commanding Officer’s Quarters (built in 1872), where Sitting Bull surrendered his rifle to Major David H. Brotherton in a formal surrender ceremony on 20 July 1881. Credit: FlintWestwood; Wikimedia Commons.

After a lifetime of hunting and freedom on the plains, Sitting Bull reluctantly adopted a farming lifestyle confined on a reservation. By all accounts a wise and thoughtful man, Sitting Bull wanted to learn more about this race of people that had conquered his own. And so it was that in the spring of 1884, upon learning that Indian Service agent James McLaughlin was going to St. Paul, Minnesota, on business, Sitting Bull asked to accompany him. McLaughlin, a firm believer that the Indians had to adopt white ways or perish, agreed to take Sitting Bull along to educate him in the ways of “civilization.”

They were the toast of the town from the day they arrived in St. Paul. Sitting Bull toured factories, schools, and government offices – even going to the theater. He witnessed many of the marvels of the age, such as the impressive printing presses in action at the Pioneer Press, and used the telegram and made a telephone call. He watched a demonstration put on by the fire department, springing into action at the urgent calling of a fire alarm. He walked the streets and stared up at the large buildings.

The following is a series of newspaper accounts of Sitting Bull’s visit to St. Paul in 1884. They tell us something about the man himself, but more often reveal attitudes of the white society that received and perceived him. What we will never know is what exactly was going on in Sitting Bull’s mind as he saw the power and strangeness of the new world being created by the whites.

Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 14 March 1884, page 4

Here is a transcription of this article:

Sitting Bull Seeing the Sights.

MANDAN, D.T. [Dakota Territory], March 14. – Major McLaughlin and Sitting Bull arrived here en route for Minneapolis. The chief has never been farther east than Bismarck, and the object of the present trip is to show him how white people live in big cities.

New York Tribune (New York, New York), 15 March 1884, page 1

Here is a transcription of this article:

SITTING BULL STUDIES CIVILIZATION.

ST. PAUL, March 14. – Sitting Bull was in this city to-night and met the Chief of the Mille Lacs. The greeting between them was not cordial. Sitting Bull is here with Agent McLaughlin inspecting civilization. He expressed great surprise at so many houses on the top of each other.

City Attorney Pratt returned today from his trip to Chicago. He had the pleasure of an introduction to the renowned Sitting Bull while in St. Paul, and requested him to visit the Forks to assist in carrying the spring elections. Sitting Bull pleaded previous engagements.

Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Missouri), 23 July 1894, page 3

An incident from Sitting Bull’s St. Paul visit reveals much about his character. It was told by a Major Burke in 1894, four years after Sitting Bull was murdered by Indian police sent to arrest him by the same agent McLaughlin who, along with Major Burke, had accompanied Sitting Bull as he strolled the streets of St. Paul back in 1884. This article was published by the New York Recorder and reprinted by the Kansas City Times. Here is a transcription of this article:

SITTING BULL’S CHARITY.

An Incident in the Career of the Great Sioux Chieftain.

A story is told by Major John M. Burke about Sitting Bull that may put this grim old warrior in a new light to thousands of people who are wont to shudder at the name of Sitting Bull. Said Major Burke: “I had a fondness for Sitting Bull. He was an Indian, and that tells the whole story. But what Sitting Bull conceived to be the attitude an Indian should sustain in relation to the whites, was, according to my belief, the very position, all circumstances considered, the Indian could place himself in. They had nothing to gain and all to lose by following the policy of Sitting Bull. If Sitting Bull had been a white man he would probably have started in life as a lawyer, but he would have soon deserted that and become a politician. He was a crafty, scheming man – but to the story I was going to tell you. It is something I saw him do myself, and it was not a strange thing for an Indian to do, but his remarks about it showed the contempt in which he held the white man.

“One bitter cold day as we were passing along the streets of St. Paul, Minn., a beggar woman, with a worn, wistful face and pleading eyes, stood in a supplicating attitude, her thin, blue hands outstretched for alms, while the cruel winds that were whistling around the corner whipped her thin clothing with cruel cracks. Old Sitting Bull looked stolidly at the woman for a few seconds, grunted “Ugh!” then he fumbled inside the folds of his big, warm, red mackinaw blanket, brought forth from the place where no one but an Indian could carry it, a handful of silver, at least $10, dropped all of it in the woman’s shivering hand and passed on.

“I said to him, ‘Bull, you must not do that! You should not give your money away like that!’

A dispatch from St. Paul, March 16, says: Sitting Bull is making a visit to St. Paul, where he is the centre of a surging crowd of visitors only equaled in size and eagerness by the admirers of Slugger Sullivan when that great man was here recently. He was brought here from Standing Rock agency by Major McLaughlin, the agent, as a sort of merit for good behavior. He is accompanied by his nephew, and is stopping at the Merchants’ Hotel. The old Chief, from a Sioux standpoint, is well dressed in beaded leggings, a soiled shirt, blanket, and eagle feathers. He is good-natured, and is full of wonder at the big tepees, the like of which he never saw before. But what most excited his admiration was the quantity of the “chuck” (Indian for food) which he is enjoying at the hotel table.

He is fatter than when he came to Standing Rock from Fort Randall, and very different in appearance from the thin and ragged warrior who surrendered by proxy to Major Brotherton at Buford. Yesterday the distinguished visitor was taken about the city. To-morrow he will visit the public schools in charge of the School Board, and to-morrow night he will occupy a box at the Grand Opera House.

The chief and his nephew visited the Pioneer Press office, and were surprised, though they didn’t show it, by the telegraph, telephone, fire alarm gong, steam heaters, etc. The chief sent a telegram to his son in Chicago, saying that he had been sick but was much better, and received an answer right away. The telephone broke him all up and forced the first exclamation from him, and he laughed for the first time in many moons. The nephew was placed at an instrument in one room and Sitting Bull in another room, 100 feet distant. The chief listened, started, grinned, and then exclaimed, “Waukan!” (evil spirit). In the composing room, an accommodating proof-taker took proofs of various millinery cuts and other pictures, which elicited grunts of satisfaction from the old chief, and he carried off the pictures as great prizes.

Trenton Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 31 July 1884, page 3

With interest in Sitting Bull growing, the St. LouisGlobe-Democrat published a biographical article about the chief. It was reprinted by the Trenton Times. Here is a transcription of this article:

SKETCHES OF SITTING BULL.

His Wives and Children – His Ways of Life

Sitting Bull doesn’t know where he was born, or when. He is about 47 years old, and, being a Teton, was probably born in central or southern Dakota. Four Bears, his uncle, says the place was near old Fort George, on Willow creek, near the mouth of the Cheyenne, on the west side of the Missouri river. His father was a rich chief, Jumping Bull. At 10 years of age the Indian lad was famous as a hunter, his favorite game being buffalo calves. His father had hundreds of pretty white, gray and roan ponies, and the boy never wanted for a horse. He killed more young buffaloes than any of his mates, and won popularity by laying his game at the lodges of poorer Indians, who were unlucky in the chase. At 14 he killed an enemy; his name before had been Sacred (for wonderful) Standshot. When he had killed his man and could boast a scalp, his name was changed to Sitting Bull, though why the old man doesn’t know.

He has two wives, Was-Seen-by-the-Nation and the One-That-Had-Four-Robes. A third wife is dead. His children are all bright, handsome boys and girls, nine in number; one, a young man about 18, is in a Catholic school near Chicago. Sitting Bull himself is not a Catholic, as reported, nor is it likely that a man of his strength of mind will ever renounce the mysteries of his own savage religion, in which for so many years he has been a powerful high priest. One little boy, 6 years old, bright as a dollar and with eyes that fairly snap like whips, was with him at Buford when he surrendered. At the formal pow-wow the chief put his heavy rifle in the little fellow’s hands and ordered him to give it to Maj. Brotherton, saying: “I surrender this rifle to you through my young son, whom I now desire to teach in this way that he has become a friend of the whites. I wish him to live as the whites do and be taught in their schools. I wish to be remembered as the last man of my tribe who gave up his rifle. This boy has now given it to you, and he wants to know how he is going to make a living.” Happily, Sitting Bull’s anxiety for his children is being grandly met in the work of the Carlisle and Hampton schools and the gradually enlarging schools and academies planted by the missionaries throughout Dakota and the West.

Sitting Bull is a typical Indian. He is wide between the cheek bones, which are more than ordinarily prominent. His chin is sharp and long, and his mouth and dark eyes betoken great firmness of character. His dress is like that of any other half-civilized red man. He affects little silly ornaments that make his grim dignity very laughable. His voice is a deep, gruff bass. He shuffles along as he walks, stepping on the outer edge of the left foot, which was badly wounded years ago. The old man will live a good many years if smoking does not use him up. He got his first glimpse of civilization last winter, coming to St. Paul with Agent McLaughlin. The thing that struck him most forcibly in his travels was the ballet which he saw at one of the theatres. This is not remarkable, as Indian women are never known to display their bodily charms as do the females of a superior race. This indecency, however, Sitting Bull looks upon as one of the supreme evidences of our greater civilization. Maj. McLaughlin says he would talk of nothing else on the way home. His great ambition in life now is to get a white wife. He says he would give two ponies for a ballet girl.

Note: An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors – the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/two-worlds-collide-sitting-bull-visits-st-paul-minnesota.html/feed0March Update: GenealogyBank Just Added New Content from 35 Titles!https://blog.genealogybank.com/march-update-genealogybank-just-added-new-content-from-35-titles.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/march-update-genealogybank-just-added-new-content-from-35-titles.html#respondWed, 14 Mar 2018 13:42:46 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=29769An article (with a complete title list) about the new content from 35 newspapers from 21 states that GenealogyBank added in March 2018.

]]>Every day, GenealogyBank is working hard to digitize more newspapers and obituaries, expanding our collection to give you the largest newspaper archives for family history research available online. We just completed adding new content from 35 newspaper titles, vastly increasing our content coverage from coast to coast!

Here are some of the details about our most recent U.S. newspaper additions:

A total of 35 titles from 21 states

24 of these titles are newspapers added to GenealogyBank for the first time

We’ve shown the newspaper issue date ranges in the list below so that you can determine if the newly added content is relevant to your personal genealogy research

To see our newspaper archives’ complete title list of more than 7,000 newspapers, click here.

Genealogy Tip: One of the ways to take advantage of the fact that GenealogyBank is always adding new content is to use a feature on the newspapers’ search results page that lets you search just on the content added since a certain time. With this feature, found along the left-hand side of the search results page, you can search only on the newest content – even newspaper articles GenealogyBank added within the past week!

GenealogyBank adds new content to its Historical Newspaper Archives constantly, so keep searching. And good luck with your family history research!

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/march-update-genealogybank-just-added-new-content-from-35-titles.html/feed0What Family History Tools Do You Want to See in the Future?https://blog.genealogybank.com/what-family-history-tools-do-you-want-to-see-in-the-future.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/what-family-history-tools-do-you-want-to-see-in-the-future.html#respondTue, 13 Mar 2018 14:40:24 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=29753An article by Thomas Jay Kemp speculating on what tools for family history research might be developed in the future.

]]>#RootsTech 2018 was a time to see the cutting-edge new tools in family history and to think about what the future might hold.
Photo: crystal ball. Source: Forbes.

If you were asked: “What new family history tools would you like to see become standard in the next 10 years?” how would you reply?

Would you want to see DNA testing go global, common, and incorporated into online family tree services like Ancestry or FamilySearch?

Would you want to see Facebook, Linked-In or Instagram automatically synced with online family tree sites so that all of those postings – complete with names; birth, marriage and death dates; relationships; and millions of family photos – are streamed live into online family trees in real time?

Would you want to see an easy button where you could plug in any two people and see how you’re both related? See how you’re related to your neighbor, a popular author, your governor? The possibilities are endless.

Tell us what family history online tools you’d like to see in the next 10 years.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/what-family-history-tools-do-you-want-to-see-in-the-future.html/feed0Genealogy 101: Indexes, an Important Part of Genealogy Researchhttps://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-101-indexes-an-important-part-of-genealogy-research.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-101-indexes-an-important-part-of-genealogy-research.html#respondMon, 12 Mar 2018 15:40:44 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=29733In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega shows how important genealogical indexes can be for family historians.

]]>Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega shows how important genealogical indexes can be for family historians. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

Indexes have been an important part of genealogy research for some time. But even though they are a much-used resource, that doesn’t mean they aren’t without their problems. Let’s take a look at indexes, what they are, and a few that are the most familiar to family historians.

Defining Indexes

For many people, the most familiar index is the one found in a book. Book indexes are an alphabetical listing found at the back of a book comprised of words or topics and the page numbers where they can be found.

Genealogical indexes work similarly in that they are a finding aid to help researchers locate original records. A genealogical index of an original record set includes at the very least a name, but in some cases additional information such as dates or locations. While an index can be an important step in finding ancestors, it should be remembered that it’s only a first step – and should be followed up with the original records.

All types of records might be indexed. For example, in the years prior to the digitization of newspapers, indexes were diligently compiled by volunteers who pored over newspapers and extracted names, dates, and events that seemed to hold the most importance. In some cases, this indexed information was typed onto index cards and catalogued in a manner similar to other library resources. These indexes helped researchers locate their ancestor quickly in what would otherwise be a laborious process of reading the newspaper page by page.

Indexes are commonly found for birth, marriage, and death records. These are extremely beneficial in finding names when the date or the location of the event is unknown. Indexes for marriages might provide both the groom and the bride’s name, making it easier to find the couple when only one name is known. These types of indexes can be found on various genealogy websites and in printed books.

Source: GenealogyBank

One of the more famous indexes used by researchers is the Social Security Death Index (SSDI). GenealogyBank provides the SSDI and describes it as “…over 94 million death records for individuals with United States Social Security numbers. Find helpful family history information including death dates, locations, first & last names, birth dates and more.” Genealogists use this to help determine the 20th century death date for ancestors. Additionally, they may go on to order the Social Security Application to learn even more about their ancestor.

Photo: California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Source: FamilySearch.

Another important series of indexes I used when I was researching for my book Cemeteries of the Eastern Sierra (Arcadia, 2007) were cemetery indexes that I found via the FamilySearch Catalog. Even though I went and walked each cemetery found in my book, the indexes helped me “read” tombstones that were missing or difficult to read. It also helped me understand the cemeteries and who was buried there before I did hands-on research. To find these types of indexes, I suggest going to the FamilySearch Catalog and conduct a Place search and then click on the subject Cemeteries.

The Trouble with Indexes

Indexes sound great, right? They provide an easy way to find information. So, what’s the problem? Indexes are transcriptions, meaning that a person looked at the records and then extracted the “pertinent” information from what they saw. Whenever we index or transcribe records, we run the risk of introducing human error which can include accidental deletions, misspellings, and misinterpretations.

It’s also a mistake to think that an index holds all the information available for a specific record set. It’s important to remember that whatever group is commissioning the index decides what information to include and exclude. That means that important information found on a form can be excluded, including any random, additional comments that were written. When we use indexes, we lose the context of the document – and that also means that we can miss out on the overall meaning.

So, Now What?

You’ll come across genealogy record indexes on many websites and in the libraries you research. Use them! But note what the original source is and seek that source out. The index should be used as a finding aid to help you find what you need. Always verify that information you find with the original record when possible.

]]>If you are researching your ancestry from Kansas, you will want to use GenealogyBank’s online KS newspaper archives: 152 titles to help you search your family history in the “Sunflower State,” providing coverage from 1841 to Today. There are millions of articles and records in our online Kansas newspaper archives!
Photo: aerial view of Kansas City, Kansas, looking southwest. The Kansas River (right-center) joins the Missouri River (left). A small piece of Kansas City, Missouri is visible on the left of the Missouri River. Credit: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Wikimedia Commons.

Dig deep into our online archives and search for historical and recent obituaries and other news articles about your ancestors from Kansas in these newspapers. Our KS newspapers are divided into two collections: Historical Newspapers (complete paper) and Recent Obituaries (obituaries only).

Here is a complete list of Kansas newspapers in the online archives. Each newspaper title in this list is an active link that will take you directly to that paper’s search page, where you can begin searching for your ancestors by surnames, dates, keywords and more. The KS newspaper titles are listed alphabetically by city.

]]>In my last post, I wrote about my search to learn more about my third-great-uncle Aretus Haskell (1811-1895). In that article, I included a clip from the Greenwood Genealogy that helped me to learn more about Aretus’ life and family.
Source: Greenwood, Frederick. Greenwood Genealogies, 1154-1914: the ancestry and descendants of Thomas Greenwood, of Newton, Massachusetts; Nathaniel and Samuel Greenwood, of Boston, Massachusetts; John Greenwood, of Virginia; and many later arrivals in America; also the early history of the Greenwoods in England, and the arms they used. New York: The Lyons Genealogical Co., 1914. 546 pages. Page 391.

From this clip I learned that Aretus’ daughter Helen Rosamond Haskell (1837-1885) has an interesting and tragic story as well:

“Helen Rosamond (Haskell)… [married] …Charles Haskell (an own cousin to his wife’s father) a farmer in Readfield, Me., both beautiful singers and pianists. He enlisted in 1862 in the war against the Rebellion as a private in the 3d Maine regiment; rose to second lieutenant, wounded in the first battle he was in, in Virginia, and d. before his father-in-law could reach him. They had one child who d. in infancy and the widow went to New Jersey with her parents.”

From the obituary I was able to learn a few more details about Charles’ military service and subsequent death:

“Charles B. Haskell of Readfield, entered the service as a musician in Co. K, 3d Regiment Maine Volunteers. He did not remain long in this capacity before called to more active and responsible duties, and at the time of his death was 1st Lieut. of Co. K. While in the line of his duty at the battle of Fair Oaks, June 1st, he was wounded by a musket shot, from which he died at Newport News, Va., June 12, 1862, aged 35 years.”

The next part of the obituary tells more about Charles’ life and character:

“Although Lieut. Haskell had been a resident of Readfield but a few years, by his social and amiable disposition and integrity of character, he had gained many friends who truly mourn his early death. Carrying these virtues with him, he formed strong attachments among his comrades in the army; and his family have the consoling reflection that while called to die away from home and its hallowed endearments, friendly and fraternal associates did all in their power to relieve and comfort his dying hours. He passed away with a consciousness of duties well performed, and with the resignation and trust of a true christian soldier.”

Wow – what a glowing tribute. Charles must have been a very good man.

As mentioned above, after the death of Charles and their child, Helen moved with her parents to a farm in North Vineland, New Jersey, where she presumably lived out the rest of her life, dying at age 48 in 1885.

Thanks to the help of written family histories and GenealogyBank, I now know a lot more about these cousins and can add this information into their FamilySearch pages and my own notes.

Genealogy Tip: Use GenealogyBank articles to supplement the genealogy sources you already have at your disposal, like written family histories and passed-down family stories.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/my-cousin-lieut-charles-haskell-was-killed-in-action-in-the-civil-war.html/feed0Piecing Together the Life of My Uncle Aretus Haskellhttps://blog.genealogybank.com/piecing-together-the-life-of-my-uncle-aretus-haskell.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/piecing-together-the-life-of-my-uncle-aretus-haskell.html#respondWed, 07 Mar 2018 16:39:07 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=29653An article by Thomas Jay Kemp about researching old newspapers to learn more about his third-great-uncle Aretus Haskell.

]]>Among the interesting branches of my family tree is the Haskell family of Cumberland County, Maine. My fourth-great-grandparents are Nathaniel Haskell (1763-1843) and Sarah Stevens (1767-?), who married in Gray, Cumberland County, Maine, in 1788.

I started by running a simple search for Aretus’ first and last names. Because of the unusual and therefore likely precise spelling of his first name, I was fairly confident that any results I found would be about my third-great-uncle.

Source: GenealogyBank

Among the three results this search generated, I found an obituary for Aretus in the New York Herald.

“Aretus Haskell… a farmer in Greenville, and later in Readfield, Me. After the death of their son-in-law, they moved with their widowed daughter to a small farm in North Vineland, N. J., where they enjoyed the filial affection and loving care of their daughter, whose death was an irreparable loss to her mother. After his wife died, being left entirely alone, he went to the Chapin Home in New York City, Feb 22, 1894, which he found very congenial in his loneliness, and d. July 27, 1895.”

Source: Greenwood, Frederick. Greenwood Genealogies, 1154-1914: the ancestry and descendants of Thomas Greenwood, of Newton, Massachusetts; Nathaniel and Samuel Greenwood, of Boston, Massachusetts; John Greenwood, of Virginia; and many later arrivals in America; also the early history of the Greenwoods in England, and the arms they used. New York: The Lyons Genealogical Co., 1914. 546 pages. Page 391.

That confirms it. I now know that both of the articles I found refer to this Aretus Haskell – he was born in Maine, moved to Vineland, New Jersey, with his wife and daughter, and finally moved to New York City where he died in the Chapin Home.

I feel an ever-deeper connection to Aretus because his sister Abigail’s portrait hangs in the hallway in my home.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/piecing-together-the-life-of-my-uncle-aretus-haskell.html/feed0Battle of the Alamo: Martyrs for Texas Freedomhttps://blog.genealogybank.com/battle-of-the-alamo-martyrs-for-texas-freedom.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/battle-of-the-alamo-martyrs-for-texas-freedom.html#respondTue, 06 Mar 2018 16:17:48 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=29625An article about the Battle of the Alamo on 6 March 1836, when 2,000 Mexican troops stormed the adobe mission and killed approximately 200 defenders.

]]>After a 13-day siege of the Texians (American settlers in Texas) defending the Alamo, Mexican troops under General Santa Anna quietly prepared for a final assault at midnight, 5 March 1836. In the early morning hours of March 6, over 2,000 Mexican troops stormed the crumbling adobe mission where approximately 200 defenders awaited the attack, willing to give their lives for the cause of freedom and Texas independence.
Illustration: “The Fall of the Alamo; or, Crockett’s Last Stand,” by Robert Jenkins Onderdonk. Credit: Texas State Archives; Wikimedia Commons.

Two waves of attackers were beaten back during desperate fighting, but the third assault came pouring over the walls and killed all but two of the Alamo’s defenders, including such famous figures as James Bowie, Davy Crockett and William B. Travis. Their leader, Colonel Travis, had sent out urgent letters pleading for reinforcements, but the defenders knew their situation was dire and probably hopeless.

Illustration: “Dawn at the Alamo,” by Henry Arthur McArdle, hanging in the Senate Chamber of the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas. Credit: The Lyda Hill Texas Collection of Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America Project, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Hopeless for them, perhaps, but not for the cause of Texas freedom. Their martyrdom inspired the fledgling Republic of Texas to “Remember the Alamo!”

The Battle of the Alamo was a significant turning point in the Texas Revolution that had begun 2 October 1835. While the Alamo was under siege, delegates at the Convention of 1836 declared independence and formed the Republic of Texas on 2 March 1836.

After the Alamo garrison was wiped out March 6, more and more Texians and adventurers from the United States rallied to the cause of Texas independence. In a surprise attack on April 21 that lasted only 18 minutes, the ragtag Texan army defeated the Mexican troops at the Battle of San Jacinto and captured Santa Anna, victoriously ending the Texas Revolution.

These reports of the Battle of the Alamo were published by the New Orleans Bulletin and the New Orleans Bee, and reprinted by the Baltimore Gazette and Daily Advertiser.

The following important documents were placed in our hands by a gentleman just arrived from Texas. The news is melancholy, indeed; and here is opened another field of action for the noble hearts now returning triumphant, and covered with laurels won on the banks of the Withlacoochie, against foes less savage, perhaps, than Santa Anna’s merciless Mexican bands.

Our informant met the express bearing the news we give, and from him procured copies to be published for the information of the people on this side of the Sabine whose relations and friends, kin and countrymen, are now the victims of Mexican barbarity. Col. Bowie, it is said, shot himself; and Col. Travis stabbed himself to escape the cruelness of the enemy. Nobly they fought; dearly they sold their lives, but none escaped of the whole garrison of San Antonio.

From the New Orleans Bee of March 28.

LATE AND IMPORTANT FROM TEXAS.

…Between the 25th February and 2d March the Mexicans were employed in forming entrenchments around the Alamo and bombarding the place; on the 2d March Col. Travis wrote that 200 shells had been thrown into the Alamo without injuring a man. On the 1st March the Garrison of Alamo received a reinforcement of 32 Texians from Gonzales [who] forced their way thro’ the enemy’s lines making the number in the Alamo consisting of 180 men.

On the [5th] March about midnight, the Alamo was assaulted by the whole Mexican army commanded by Santa Anna in person. The battle was desperate until daylight, when only 7 men belonging to the Texian garrison were found alive, who cried for quarters, but were told that there was none for them. They then continued fighting until the whole were butchered. One woman (Mrs. Dickinson) and a negro of Col. Travis’ were the only persons whose lives were spared. We regret to say that Col. David Crockett, his companion Mr. Benton, and Col. Bonham of S.C. were among the number slain. Colonel Bowie was murdered in his bed, sick and helpless. Gen. Cos on entering the fort ordered the servant of Col. Travis to point out the body of his master; he did so, when Cos drew his sword and mangled the face and limbs with the malignant feelings of a Comanche savage. The bodies of the slain were thrown into a heap in the centre of the Alamo and burned.

…The flag used by the Mexicans was a blood-red one in place of the constitutional one. Immediately after the capture Gen. Santa Anna sent Mrs. Dickinson and the servant to Gen. Houston’s camp, accompanied by a Mexican with a flag, who was bearer of a note from Gen. Santa Anna offering the Texians peace and a general amnesty if they would lay down their arms and submit to his government. Gen. Houston’s reply was – “True, sir, you have succeeded in killing some of our brave men, but the Texians are not yet conquered.”

Note: An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors – the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers. Were any of your ancestors involved in the Texas Revolution? Please share your stories with us in the comments section.

]]>Newspapers can be helpful for finding all kinds of interesting and useful information about your relatives, but some of the sweetest discoveries come when you find a newspaper article that relates directly back to your life. Such was the case when I discovered my third-great-grandparents’ wedding announcement in an 1833 newspaper article.

I sifted through a few pages of results, some mentioning other Huse cousins, before coming upon the wedding announcement of my third-great-grandparents William Brier Huse (1810-1884) and Fanny Plummer (1812-1888):

It’s incredible to think that because of that union on a cold December day in 1833, I’m sitting here today, generations later, typing this article.

William and Fanny went on to have seven children and live long lives together, dying within just a few years of each other. They are buried together in New Hampton, Belknap County, New Hampshire.

Photo: Huse gravestone. Source: Find-a-Grave.

The inscription on their stone reads:

“Farewell my friends who stand around Where my poor remnants lay I rest beneath the silent ground Till the last judgment day”

Genealogy Tip: Notice that abbreviations are commonly used in newspaper articles. The phrase “both of S.” refers back to the town, Sanbornton, where they both lived and where the marriage was performed. Become familiar with this common practice and look for it when you read old newspapers.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/finding-my-3rd-great-grandparents-wedding-announcement-in-the-newspaper.html/feed0A New Nation Is Born: The Republic of Texashttps://blog.genealogybank.com/a-new-nation-is-born-the-republic-of-texas.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/a-new-nation-is-born-the-republic-of-texas.html#respondFri, 02 Mar 2018 15:26:40 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=29575An article about the Texas Declaration of Independence (from Mexico) being approved on 2 March 1836, forming a new nation: the Republic of Texas.

]]>In 1834 the Mexican government rescinded the Constitution of 1824, taking away certain political and legal rights and transforming a federal republic into a military dictatorship led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. This action enraged residents of the Mexican province of Texas – many of them Anglo-Americans who had come to Texas, in part, because of those very rights that the Mexican government then snatched away. Defiant talk led to action, and the Texas Revolution began in October 1835.

On March 1 the following year the rebels held a convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos to determine their course of action. These angry men were all of one mind, and it did not take them long to make a momentous decision. The very next day, 2 March 1836, the delegates unanimously approved the Texas Declaration of Independence: a new nation was born.

Illustration: official flag of the Republic of Texas (identical to the modern state flag). Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

In issuing their formal declaration, the convention delegates followed the example set by the United States Declaration of Independence. They declared to all the world what their grievances were with the Mexican government, and asserted their right to form a new nation to protect their personal liberty and political freedom. Fifty-nine delegates defiantly signed the declaration.

The Texas Declaration of Independence was published in full by the National Banner and Nashville Whig newspaper.

Below will be found the unanimous declaration of Independence by the people of Texas, through their delegates assembled in the town of Washington… received by last night’s mail:

The unanimous declaration of independence, made by the delegates of the people of Texas in general convention, made at the town of Washington, on the 2d day of March, 1836.

When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and unalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression; When the federal republican constitution of their country, which they have sworn to support, no longer has a substantial existence, and the whole nature of their government has been forcibly changed, without their consent, from a restricted federative republic, composed of sovereign states, to a consolidated central military despotism, in which every interest is disregarded, but that of the army and the priesthood – both the eternal enemies of civil liberty, the ever ready minions of power, and the usual instruments of tyrants; When, long after the spirit of the constitution has departed, moderation at length so far lost, by those in power, that even the semblance of freedom is removed, and the forms themselves of the constitution discontinued, and so far from their petitions and remonstrances being regarded, the agents who bear them are thrown into dungeons – and mercenary armies sent forth, to force a new government upon them at the point of the bayonet; When, in consequence of such acts of malfeasance and abdication on the part of the government, anarchy prevails, and civil society is dissolved into its original elements:

In such a crisis, the first law of nature, the right of self-preservation, the inherent and inalienable right of the people to appeal to first principles, and take their political affairs into their own hands, in extreme cases, enjoins it as a right towards themselves, and a sacred obligation to their posterity, to abolish such government and create another in its stead, calculated to rescue them from impending dangers, and to secure their future welfare and happiness.

Nations, as well as individuals, are amenable for their acts to the public opinion of mankind. A statement of a part of our grievances is therefore submitted to an impartial world, in justification of the hazardous but unavoidable step now taken, of severing our political connexions with the Mexican people, and assuming an independent attitude among the nations of the earth.

The Mexican government, by its colonization laws, invited and induced the Anglo-American population of Texas to colonize its wilderness, under the pledged faith of a written constitution, that they should continue to enjoy that constitutional liberty and republican government to which they had been habituated in the land of their birth, the United States of America. In this expectation they have been cruelly disappointed – as the Mexican nation has acquiesced in the late changes made in the government by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna – who having overturned the constitution of his country, now offers us the cruel alternative either to abandon our houses, acquired by so many privations, or submit to the most intolerable of all tyranny, the combined despotism of the sword and the priesthood.

It has sacrificed our welfare to the state of Coahuila, by which our interests have been continually depressed, through a jealous and partial course of legislation, carried on at a far distant seat of government, by a hostile majority in an unknown tongue; and this, too, notwithstanding we have petitioned in the humblest terms for the establishment of a separate state government, and have, in accordance with the provisions of the national constitution, presented to the general Congress a republican constitution, which was, without just cause, contemptuously rejected.

It incarcerated in a dungeon, for a long time, one of our citizens, for no other cause than a zealous endeavor to procure the acceptance of our constitution and the establishment of a state government.

It has failed and refused to secure, on a firm basis, the right of trial by jury, that palladium of civil liberty, and only safe guarantee for the life, liberty, and property of the citizen.

It has failed to establish any system of public education, although possessed of means almost boundless (the public domain), and although it is an axiom in political science, that unless a people are educated and enlightened, it is idle to expect the continuance of civil liberty or the capacity for self-government.

It has suffered the military commandant, stationed amongst us, to exercise arbitrary acts of oppression and tyranny, thus trampling upon the most sacred rights of the citizen, and rendering the military superior to the civil power.

It has dissolved, by force of arms, the state congress of Coahuila and Texas, and obliged our representatives to fly for their lives from the seat of government, thus depriving us of the fundamental political right of representation.

It has demanded the surrender of a number of our citizens, and ordered military detachments to secure and carry them into the interior for trial, in contempt of the civil authority, and in defiance of the laws and the Constitution.

It has made piratical attacks upon our commerce, by commissioning foreign desperadoes, and authorizing them to seize our vessels, and convey the property of our citizens to far distant ports for confiscation.

It denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience – by the support of a national religion, calculated to promote the temporal interests of its human functionaries, rather than the glory of the true and living God.

It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, which are essential to our defence, the rightful property of freemen, and formidable to tyrannical governments.

It has invaded our country, both by sea and land, with intent to lay waste our territory, and drive us from our homes – and has now a large mercenary army advancing to carry on against us a war of extermination.

It has, through its emissaries, incited the merciless savages, with the tomahawk and scalping knife, to massacre the inhabitants of our defenceless frontiers.

It hath been, during the whole time of our connexion with it, the contemptible sport and victim of successive military revolutions; and hath continually exhibited every characteristic of a weak, corrupt and tyrannical government.

These and other grievances were patiently borne by the people of Texas, until they reached that point at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. We then took up arms in defence of the national Constitution. We appealed to our Mexican brethren for assistance. Our appeal has been made in vain; though months have elapsed, no sympathetic response has yet been heard from the interior. We are, therefore, forced to the melancholy conclusion, that the Mexican people have acquiesced in the destruction of their liberty, and the substitution therefor of a military government; that they are unfit to be free, and incapable of self-government.

The necessity of self-preservation, therefore, now decrees our eternal political separation.

We, therefore, the delegates, with plenary powers, of the people of Texas, in solemn convention assembled, appealing to a candid world for the necessities of our condition, do hereby resolve and declare, that our political connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, sovereign, and independent republic, and are fully invested with all the rights and attributes which properly belong to independent nations – and conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and confidently submit the issue to the decision of the Supreme Arbiter of the destinies of nations.

Note: An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors – the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers. Were any of your involved in the Texas Revolution? Please share your stories with us in the comments section below.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/a-new-nation-is-born-the-republic-of-texas.html/feed0Using One Wedding Announcement to Find Multiple Cousinshttps://blog.genealogybank.com/using-one-wedding-announcement-to-find-multiple-cousins.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/using-one-wedding-announcement-to-find-multiple-cousins.html#respondThu, 01 Mar 2018 15:32:11 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=29549An article by Thomas Jay Kemp about searching old newspapers to learn more about his ancestors from Sanbornton, Belknap County, New Hampshire.

]]>If your family comes from a small town, you’ll often find that nearly everyone who was born in that town is related to you in some way. This is the case with many of my maternal cousins from Sanbornton, Belknap County, New Hampshire.
Photo: Bay Meeting House, Sanbornton, New Hampshire, built in 1836. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

I wanted to learn more about these Belknap County relatives, so I picked one of the surnames of my Sanbornton cousins – Huse – and searched for it, along with the keyword “Sanbornton,” in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives.

Source: GenealogyBank

Among the first few search results, I found a wedding announcement that mentions one of my Huse cousins:

Wow – multiple cousins in one wedding announcement section: brides, grooms and even the minister. Distant cousins – but still all my cousins just the same.

What a lucky find!

Genealogy Tip: Use weddings and obituaries to find new cousins by searching for your family’s surname in one particular city and then researching each of them to see how they are also related to you. Find your family at GenealogyBank.com.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/using-one-wedding-announcement-to-find-multiple-cousins.html/feed0African American Women: The Alpha Suffrage Clubhttps://blog.genealogybank.com/african-american-women-the-alpha-suffrage-club.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/african-american-women-the-alpha-suffrage-club.html#respondWed, 28 Feb 2018 16:33:09 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=29507In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega searches old newspapers to learn more about some African American women leaders in the women’s suffrage movement.

]]>Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega searches old newspapers to learn more about the Alpha Suffrage Club and some African American women leaders in the women’s suffrage movement. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

Names like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul are often associated with the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. But they are just some of the leaders who fought for women’s right to vote. Equally important are the names of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Elizabeth Piper Ensley, and Mary Ann Shadd Cary, all African American suffrage leaders who not only fought for women’s right to vote – but also faced racism, outside and inside the larger suffrage movement, as they led the charge.

There were many reasons why African American suffrage organizations were important in the larger 20th century women’s suffrage movement. While African American men had obtained the vote with the passage of the 15th Amendment (ratified in 1870), they were rarely able to enjoy their new right. Poll taxes and literacy tests were just some of the tactics used to preclude them from the polls.

African American women knew they not only had to fight for the right to vote, but also for the ability to exercise that vote without intimidation – something that had been denied the men in their lives. African American women’s exclusion from white-led suffrage groups meant organizing separate groups where African American women could work on social issues that affected them.

One example of an African American suffrage group was the Alpha Suffrage Club. Founded in Chicago on 30 January 1913 by Ida B. Wells-Barnett and white suffragist Belle Squire, it was the first African American female suffrage group in Illinois. Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s work on behalf of the rights of African Americans is legendary, and it makes sense that she would add suffrage to her list of causes. The Alpha Suffrage Club in 1916 boasted 200 members (though that number would later swell to thousands) and information about meetings was featured in the local African American newspaper, the Broad Ax, as well as their club newsletter, Alpha Suffrage Record.*

One of the first activities the newly formed Alpha Suffrage Club participated in was the 1913 Women’s Suffrage Procession. In 1913, 5,000 marchers organized by suffrage leader Alice Paul marched in Washington, D.C., in support of a suffrage amendment to the Constitution.

Illustration: official program for the Woman Suffrage Procession, Washington, D.C., on 3 March 1913. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

The procession was but one example of how racism hampered the fight for suffrage for all women. Initially, in order to acquiesce to the feelings of Southern white women who objected to African American women marching with them, suffrage leader Alice Paul suggested that marchers be grouped, with African American women marching at the end of the parade.

Eventually, African American women did march – not segregated at the end of the parade like initially proposed, but instead with suffragists from their home states. One of those marchers was Ida B. Wells-Barnett, who marched alongside her white colleagues Belle Squire and Virginia Brooks from Illinois.** The Alpha Suffrage Club believed in the importance of Wells-Barnett’s trip to D.C. so much that they financed it. Upon Wells-Barnett’s return to Illinois, the Alpha Suffrage Club threw an entertainment event to raise money to reimburse the club for its sponsorship of her trip.

Broad Ax (Chicago, Illinois), 29 March 1913, page 4

A few months after the Washington, D.C., parade, in June 1913, Illinois Governor Edward Dunne signed a law giving women from that state limited voting rights. While women couldn’t vote for all state political offices, they could vote for “presidential electors, mayor, aldermen and most other local offices, but not for governor, state representatives or members of Congress.”***

This new suffrage right became a topic of meetings for the Alpha Suffrage Club as they taught their members “the proper use of the ballot” and “how to use a voting machine.” These women knew the importance of helping women become educated voters, and they also continued to add their voice to the call for national voting rights for women.

Broad Ax (Chicago, Illinois), 15 November 1913, page 2

Learn More

Looking for articles about the Alpha Suffrage Club, other African American suffrage leaders, or maybe even a female ancestor? Make sure to search GenealogyBank’s African American Newspapers collection. Look for articles that tell the story of suffrage and elections where your ancestor lived. I’d love to hear what you find. Please share your discoveries below in the comments section.

]]>If you are researching your ancestry from Maryland, you will want to use GenealogyBank’s online MD newspaper archives: 176 titles to help you search your family history in the “Old Line State,” providing coverage from 1728 to Today. There are millions of articles and records in our online Maryland newspaper archives!
Photo: Baltimore, Maryland. Credit: Iracaz; Wikimedia Commons.

Dig deep into our online archives and search for historical and recent obituaries and other news articles about your ancestors from Maryland in these newspapers. Our MD newspapers are divided into two collections: Historical Newspapers (complete paper) and Recent Obituaries (obituaries only).

Here is a complete list of Maryland newspapers in the online archives. Each newspaper title in this list is an active link that will take you directly to that paper’s search page, where you can begin searching for your ancestors by surnames, dates, keywords and more. The MD newspaper titles are listed alphabetically by city.

]]>Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega provides tips for getting the most out of the upcoming RootsTech genealogy conference. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

I recently returned from a genealogy meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the participants were asking the same question of their friends: “Are you going to RootsTech?” So, are you going to RootsTech? If you are, here are a few things to consider.

Photo: Expo Hall at RootsTech. Credit: FamilySearch; RootsTech.

What’s New?

What’s new at the annual genealogy event happening February 28 – March 3, 2018? The most important new addition to RootsTech is the additional day added to the conference. Wednesday, February 28th kicks off RootsTech. What can you do on Wednesday? One thing to add to your to-do list is to attend the Innovation Showcase where you can hear panelists discuss genealogy technology and the future of family history.

Best of all, you can spend a few hours in the Expo Hall for Preview Night. You only have two hours on Wednesday night, but it will give you enough time to start exploring what you want to see the other three days of the conference.

Keynotes

RootsTech always provides some of the greatest speakers to help kick off their events, and this year is no exception. Keynote speakers include Olympic champion Scott Hamilton, singer Natalia Lafourcade, professor and Finding Your Roots host Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and “Humans of New York” founder Brandon Stanton.

Of course, all of the keynote speakers are wonderful and I’m really excited to see Professor Gates as a speaker at RootsTech – but I’m equally excited to listen to Brandon Stanton. If you’re not familiar with “Humans of New York,” it’s well worth your time to become familiar with it. This project, that started out to photograph 10,000 people on the streets of New York city, grew to include interviews of everyday New York residents. “Humans of New York,” now a website and a book, is the ultimate genealogy project. It documents the lives of everyday people – and isn’t that what family historians do?

Classes, Classes, Classes

Most people attend RootsTech because of the classes, and this year doesn’t disappoint. With over 200 classes offered, there is something for everyone’s interest. On the RootsTech website you can view the schedule by day. Presentations include DNA, beginning genealogy, and how to use websites. Presentations are given by a variety of international experts in their field including Crista Cowan, D. Joshua Taylor, E. Randol Schoenberg, Tony Burroughs, and Lisa Louise Cooke. In addition to presentations, there are sponsored lunches, computer labs, and events.

Don’t Forget the Expo Hall

As mentioned above, one of the important places to check out at every conference is the Expo Hall (or exhibitor hall). RootsTech is known for their massive Hall featuring not only vendors of genealogical products, but also the “Innovators Alley,” a discovery zone with interactive displays and people offering one-on-one help with your genealogical problems. Don’t forget to stop by our booth #627 and say hi! We’d love to help you search for your ancestors in our digital historical newspaper collections.

What Will You Do?

There’s no doubt that you could keep busy your four days at RootsTech with all that is offered. In addition, the Family History Library will have some extended hours, tempting you to enjoy research and learning!

Take a look at the schedule and decide what you would like to do. Remember that even the best-laid plans can hit snags. Classrooms that hit capacity before you arrive may mean that you can’t participate in your preferred class. Lots of walking inside the Salt Palace (where RootsTech is held) and around town can mean feeling tired and run-down. Take some time to plan out your must-attend sessions and events and your second choices. Schedule some time to take a break or relax.

]]>Introduction: In this article – to help celebrate February being Black History Month – Mary Harrell-Sesniak searches old newspapers to learn more about publisher, journalist and abolitionist John Brown Russwurm. Mary is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background.

Newspapers are one of the most important resources for expanding genealogical data and filling in your family tree. Often when searching newspapers, we find long-lost articles and advertisements that fill in the blanks on what came before.

To illustrate this important point and also to celebrate February as Black History Month, let’s search GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives to take a look at a man recognized by many as one of the top 100 historical African Americans: publisher, journalist and abolitionist John Brown Russwurm.

Illustration: John Brown Russwurm. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Born in Jamaica

Born in Jamaica in 1799, John Brown Russwurm’s father was an English merchant – his mother was a black slave whose name has been lost to history. In 1812, his father moved to Portland, Maine, and brought John with him.

The First African American to Graduate from Bowdoin College

John Brown Russwurm graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine in 1826. As the first African American to graduate from Bowdoin – and the third African American to graduate from any American college – his accomplishment was duly noted in several papers.

This Maine newspaper reports: “At the late commencement at Bowdoin College the following young gentlemen received the degree of Bachelor of Arts,” listing John B. Russwurm as one of the 28 graduates. The article also listed the “Order of Exercises” – the second speaker, right after the “Salutatory Oration in Latin,” was Russwurm, presenting a treatise on “The Condition and Prospects of Hayti [Haiti].”

Eastern Argus (Portland, Maine), 12 September 1826, page 2

This Connecticut newspaper says of Russwurm’s commencement address that day:

“He came on the stage under an evident feeling of embarrassment, but finding the sympathies of the audience in his favor, he recovered his courage as he proceeded. He pronounced his part in a full and manly tone of voice, accompanied with appropriate gestures, and it was received by the audience with hearty applause. Altogether it was one of the most interesting performances of the day. His subject was happily selected. It was the condition and prospects of Hayti.”

Norwich Courier (Norwich, Connecticut), 27 September 1826, page 3

The First African American Owner and Publisher of an American Newspaper

Along with Samuel Cornish, Russwurm founded and published the first African American newspaper in America, launching the abolitionist newspaper Freedom’s Journal on 16 March 1827.

Freedom’s Journal (New York, New York), 16 March 1827, page 1

This pioneering newspaper uses the slogan “Righteousness Exalteth a Nation.”

Freedom’s Journal (New York, New York), 16 March 1827, page 1

So, what was reported in this historic publication?

The opening paragraph speaks of moral and religious improvement, as well as the dissemination of useful knowledge.

“IN presenting our first number to our Patrons, we feel all the diffidence of persons entering upon a new and untried line of business. But a moment’s reflection upon the noble objects, which we have in view by the publication of this Journal; the expediency of its appearance at this time, when so many schemes are in action concerning our people – encourage us to come boldly before an enlightened publick. For we believe, that a paper devoted to the dissemination of useful knowledge among our brethren, and to their moral and religious improvement, must meet with the cordial approbation of every friend to humanity.”

Freedom’s Journal (New York, New York), 16 March 1827, page 1

This Maine newspaper praises the publication of Freedom’s Journal, and says of its abolitionist message:

“We hope it will be felt as such by every citizen of the Republic.”

Christian Mirror (Portland, Maine), 23 March 1827, page 2

This Massachusetts newspaper reports a toast to Freedom’s Journal.

Old Hampshire Post (Northampton, Massachusetts), 17 July 1827, page 3

The American Colonization Society

There is so much to read about the American Colonization Society (a movement to relocate blacks from American to Africa) that I will not repeat the controversial history, only to say that Russwurm was at the heart of it – and he supported relocation, moving to Africa himself in 1829.

After moving to Liberia, Russwurm became the colonial secretary for the Society from 1830 to 1834, and later became superintendent of education for Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. In 1836 he became governor of a colony in African that later became part of Liberia.

Russwurm wrote many letters during his time in Africa. Some of his letters were published in American newspapers, including ones asking for financial help and others describing the conditions he found.

Christian Watchman (Boston, Massachusetts), 25 May 1832, page 2

When Did He Die?

Wikipedia has a question mark for his death date. Did a man of such prominence as Russwurm really not have a published death notice? After about 30 seconds of searching, I located his death notice in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives.

On 29 October 1851 the Congregational Journal described Russwurm as the “indefatigable Chief Magistrate of Cape Palmas,” and clearly stated his death date as the 17th of June 1851.

Of course not – so if this article has intrigued you, let it be the inspiration for your own research, or to do an act of genealogical kindness, and find and document more information about John Brown Russwurm.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-discoveries-a-look-into-john-brown-russwurms-life.html/feed0Former Slave’s Story: ‘I Bought My Freedom’https://blog.genealogybank.com/former-slaves-story-i-bought-my-freedom.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/former-slaves-story-i-bought-my-freedom.html#respondWed, 21 Feb 2018 15:27:31 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=29359An article by Thomas Jay Kemp about researching the life of Lewis Hathaway, a former slave born in Kentucky in 1824 who bought his own freedom.

My name is Lewis Hathaway (1824-1897), I was born 194 years ago in Kentucky, on 5 January 1824. I was born into slavery and was sold to Judge J.R. Peters. I worked out an agreement to buy my freedom from the Judge – and even though President Lincoln gave us our freedom, I “considered it a just debt and paid the balance due” on behalf of my family. I married Ann (1819-) who was also born into slavery in Kentucky.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/former-slaves-story-i-bought-my-freedom.html/feed0John Glenn, U.S. Hero: First American to Orbit the Earthhttps://blog.genealogybank.com/john-glenn-u-s-hero-first-american-to-orbit-the-earth.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/john-glenn-u-s-hero-first-american-to-orbit-the-earth.html#respondTue, 20 Feb 2018 15:49:46 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=29317An article about astronaut John Glenn’s historic space flight on 20 February 1962, when he became the first American to orbit the Earth.

]]>An important event in the U.S. space program’s history occurred on 20 February 1962, when astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit the Earth. In Glenn’s nearly five-hour flight he circled the globe three times, seeing four sunsets as he traveled 81,000 miles while whizzing along at speeds of more than 17,000 miles an hour – nearly five miles every second. When he safely splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean after his epic flight, the already-established American hero received international acclaim.
Photo: astronaut John Glenn dons his silver Mercury pressure suit in preparation for launch of Mercury Atlas 6 (MA-6) rocket. Credit: NASA; Wikimedia Commons.

As detailed in one of the following newspaper articles, Glenn’s achievement seemed to genuinely delight the whole world – even America’s formidable rival in the newly-formed space race, the Soviet Union. The U.S.S.R. had put America on notice – and on edge – when it successfully launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into Earth’s orbit on 4 October 1957. It followed up that triumph by launching the first man into Earth’s orbit, Yuri A. Gagarin, on 12 April 1961.

Ten months later, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) put the spotlight on America’s space program and scientific know-how when Glenn made his successful flight aboard the Friendship 7 space capsule.

Glenn was already a hero before his historic flight. A U.S. Marine Corps pilot, he fought bravely in both WWII and the Vietnam War. He was one of the first seven astronauts chosen for NASA’s space program in 1959. After his career as an astronaut, he served in the U.S. Congress as a senator from Ohio from 1974 to 1999. During that time, he convinced NASA that it should study the effects of space travel on an elderly person – and on 29 October 1998, Glenn flew into space on board the shuttle Discovery. He was 77!

The following three newspaper articles are about Glenn’s historic space flight in 1962. The first article describes the flight itself, the second presents international reaction, and the third reports Glenn’s reaction.

Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 21 February 1962, page 1

Here is a transcription of this article:

Glenn Success in 3-Orbit Flight

Western World Hails Advance in Space Race

Boy, That Was Real Fireball Ride, Says Exultant Colonel after Feat

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., rocketed around the world three times Tuesday in a magnificent display of icy courage and President Kennedy said he would arrive here Friday to offer the nation’s thanks.

The 40-year-old Marine Lieutenant Colonel’s flight ended at 2:43 p.m. (EST) in the Atlantic Ocean near Grand Turk Island in the Bahamas, about 700 miles southeast of here.

Though the U.S. achievement lagged some 10 months behind that of the Russians, there was no doubt that Glenn’s flight was a tremendous boost to the morale of the Western world and raised hopes that the United States would really catch up.

An obviously pleased and proud President Kennedy also said he would receive Glenn in Washington Monday or Tuesday, which undoubtedly will spell a huge celebration in the victory-hungry capital.

Glenn and his capsule were plucked from the sparkling blue seas by the destroyer USS Noa at 3:01 p.m. and Glenn reported “My condition is excellent.”

Physical Exams, Debriefing Set

After taking a shower aboard the Noa, Glenn talked to his wife and then to President Kennedy by radio telephone.

At 5:44 p.m., he was transferred by helicopter to the anti-submarine carrier, Randolph, for a brief physical examination and at 8:04 p.m. was sent by whirlybird to Grand Turk Island, arriving about 9 p.m. There he will stay for 48 hours and undergo a more exhaustive physical examination and questioning about his flight by a team of scientists and doctors.

Before the year is out the United States plans to make four more flights similar to the one by Glenn and then wind up 1962 with an 18-orbit flight.

Selected for the next trip into space and around the world is Maj. Donald Kent Slayton of the Air Force. His rocket is already here and undergoing tests.

While Glenn is at Grand Turk he will be visited by Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who will fly with him to meet the President.

Though the nation followed the flight with intense interest and pride, there was one whose vital interest in the flight exceeded all others: His wife.

“It is,” said the 41-year-old Mrs. Glenn, “the most wonderful day for my family… the children are so proud of their father and the Mercury team and everyone who made this possible.”

The Glenns have two children, Dave, 16, and Lyn, 14.

Glenn’s first comment as his capsule “Friendship 7” descended toward the gentle and tepid waters was contained in a radio message to Project Mercury control here:

‘Real Fireball of a Ride’

“Boy, that was a real fireball of a ride!”

The decision to make that third orbit, after some minor technical difficulties had developed on the first two, was Glenn’s.

When asked if he wanted to try for three, Glenn replied, “Affirmative. I’m ready to go.”

Even so, he landed some 45 to 55 miles short of the planned landing area after firing his braking rockets at 2:20 p.m. The reverse rockets gave him such a jolt, he cried: “I feel like I’m heading back towards Hawaii!”

In any case, he came safely through and his main parachute, which opened at 10,000 feet, settled him down gently.

The Destroyer Noa and three helicopters from the Carrier USS Randolph raced for the floating capsule. The Noa won. It plucked the Friendship 7 from the ocean with its cargo boom and opened the hatch.

As he started the third and last leg of his magnificent trip around the world at 17,500 miles per hour, the 40-year-old, balding Marine lieutenant colonel reported:

“I feel real good. No problems at all.”

Even while Glenn was in his last orbit, varying from 100 miles to 160 miles high, congratulations were pouring in from much of the world, including the Soviet Union.

Glenn began his climb into the blue-black of space at 9:47 a.m. (EST), 6:47 a.m. (PST), when his 360,000-pound thrust Atlas missile blossomed with clouds of smoke and bright yellow flame and arched eastward into a brilliant sun hanging over the Atlantic.

Except for some minor troubles with his altitude control jets – the little gas nozzles which establish his relationship to the horizon – the entire operation was a miracle of precision rocketry.

This trouble Glenn corrected by switching to a control system part manual and part automatic.

As he whizzed through space – from day to night and back again in minutes – Glenn sounded quite calm, as if he did this sort of thing every day.

While he confined himself mostly to reports on conditions within the capsule and technical summaries couched in space age jargon, he did make brief comments from time to time on the view from way up there.

‘Florida Looks like a Map’

Once he said, “The horizon is a beautiful blue.” At another point he exclaimed, “I can see the whole state of Florida spread out like a map. I can see all the way back to the Mississippi delta.”

As he passed from the brilliant sunlight enveloping this space center, zipped across Africa and the Indian Ocean into the dark concealing Australia, he said, “Sure was a short day.”

His first trip around the earth and into Wednesday Feb. 21, and back again at mid-Pacific to Feb. 20, required only 83.29 minutes.

As he hurtled over Perth, Australia, the city was lit by millions of lights, turned on by the residents as a gesture of good will and good luck. He told the ground tracking station to “thank everyone for turning them on.”

After making his first trip, Glenn reported one oddity – still unexplained.

He said he noted thousands of luminous particles outside his cabin window, traveling at the same speed as his Friendship 7 spacecraft. They glowed in the sun rising over the Pacific. One guess is that they were dust specks.

As for his prolonged weightlessness, Glenn said during the flight that he was having no trouble at all.

On his first orbit – and even before he passed Africa – Glenn elected to try eating from his squeeze bottle rations: 3,000 calories of baby food. He had been in the capsule since 6:03 a.m.

Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 21 February 1962, page 1

Here is a transcription of this article:

Wide World Cheers Orbit Flight as Epic Chapter in Man’s Story

LONDON (AP) – The peoples of the world raised an almost universal cheer from the heart Tuesday night for Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr.’s, epic voyage into space and his safe return.

From Vatican City to Tokyo, from government ministries to workingmen’s bars, in homes and offices from the Arctic to the equator, mankind thrilled at the news of the 40-year-old American’s triple orbit of the globe.

Expressions of sympathy, pride and praise arose in a babel of tongues, but the meanings were crystal clear: “congratulations… well done.”

‘Goodwill Tour’

It seemed that people of almost every land, following Glenn’s exploit through news dispatches, radio and TV, shared in the tension, relief and enthusiasm of the United States and the joy that yet another human being had ventured successfully into the uncharted reaches of space. It proved to be a sort of super goodwill tour.

Even the Russians, sometimes disdainful of U.S. failures, appeared sympathetic toward the American triumph, though it was part of the U.S. effort to trim their lead in the space race.

Moscow radio and TV outlets carried factual accounts of the launching and the flight and were swift to announce Glenn’s safe return.

Muscovites Pleased

Muscovites seemed genuinely pleased and even delighted. “I hope he gets back,” said a typical citizen at the news of the blastoff. “Horozho! Horozho! (Good! Good!) exclaimed a Russian policeman when Glenn came back to Earth.

In Ottawa, Russian ambassador Amasap Aroutunian voiced praise for Glenn, for the American people, their technicians and workers.

“I believe this remarkable achievement is another step toward better cooperation of scientists of the world and in particular of the Soviet Union and the United States,” he declared.

Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 21 February 1962, page 1

Here is a transcription of this article:

Happy Glenn on Sea Isle

GRAND TURK, The Bahamas (AP) – Brimming with delight, Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., reached this tiny Atlantic island a few hours after sunset – the fourth sunset he had seen Tuesday – to rest and tell the story of his fabulous space ride.

Fellow astronaut M. Scott Carpenter helped him out of his plane and playfully butted him in the chest.

Glenn declared, “I feel fine, wonderful, and I couldn’t feel better.”

He said “howdy” to his crowd of well-wishers and added, “It has been a long day and a very interesting one, too, I might add.”

The American who zoomed through space at five miles per second arrived from the carrier Randolph in a Navy anti-submarine patrol plane with a top speed of about 175 miles per hour. He touched down at 9:10 p.m. (EST).

Glenn walked with some jauntiness, but his eyes showed fatigue as he greeted Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey Guy at the airport. Guy is administrator of the Caribbean island.

Note: An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors – the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers. The same is true of more recent news. Do you have memories of John Glenn’s historic flight?

]]>If you are researching your ancestry from West Virginia, you will want to use GenealogyBank’s online WV newspaper archives: 35 titles to help you search your family history in the “Mountain State,” providing coverage from 1791 to Today. There are millions of articles and records in our online West Virginia newspaper archives!
Photo: the West Virginia Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia. Credit: Carol M. Highsmith; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Dig deep into our online archives and search for historical and recent obituaries and other news articles about your ancestors from West Virginia in these newspapers. Our WV newspapers are divided into two collections: Historical Newspapers (complete paper) and Recent Obituaries (obituaries only).

Here is a complete list of West Virginia newspapers in the online archives. Each newspaper title in this list is an active link that will take you directly to that paper’s search page, where you can begin searching for your ancestors by surnames, dates, keywords and more. The WV newspaper titles are listed alphabetically by city.

]]>We are fortunate that the pages of America’s newspapers have recorded over 2 billion stories of Americans from the last three centuries. GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives contain these records from 1690 to today.

Every day I sift through the stories of your ancestors and mine – preserving and passing down these stories so they are easily findable by the rising generation.

For example, I have found hundreds and hundreds of contemporary biographical sketches of former slaves. Some give details of their lives and others give simply the facts of their lives in their obituaries.

I want these stories to be told and retold – remembered by all of us and easily discoverable by descendants and kindred.

“…was an African-American abolitionist, minister, educator and orator. Having escaped with his family as a child from slavery in Maryland, he grew up in New York City. He was educated at the African Free School and other institutions, and became an advocate of militant abolitionism. He became a minister and based his drive for abolitionism in religion.”

Read his story in the Patriot (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), 11 March 1882, page 1.

Hayden, Harriet, Mrs. (1819-1893)
Kentucky, Massachusetts

“African-American abolitionists who had escaped from slavery in Kentucky; it is located in Beacon Hill, Boston. They maintained the home as a stop on the Underground Railroad, and the Hayden’s were visited by Harriet Beecher Stowe as research for her book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852). Lewis Hayden was an important leader in the African-American community of Boston; in addition, he lectured as an abolitionist and was a member of the Boston Vigilance Committee, which resisted the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.”

–National Park Service

Photo: Lewis and Harriet Hayden House, former home of African American abolitionists in Boston, Massachusetts. Credit: National Park Service; Wikimedia Commons.

It is said that John Brown (John Brown’s raid of Harper Ferry) held a meeting at her home, which is listed on the Black Heritage Trail.

“One of the most prominent African Americans in the United States before and during the Civil War, John Mercer Langston was… one of the first African Americans to hold elective office in the United States (he became Brownhelm, Ohio, township clerk in 1855), Langston topped off his long political career by becoming the first black man to represent Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives.”

–U.S. House of Representatives

Photo: John Mercer Langston, member of the United States House of Representatives. Credit: U.S. House of Representatives, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Read his story in the New York Tribune (New York City, New York), 16 November 1897, page 8.

Mathis, Nathan “Uncle” (about 1822-1937)
Mississippi

Read his story in the State Times (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), 14 January 1937, page 17.

According to his obituary, he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery:

“…out of recognition of his service to the Government.”

He:

“…was the slave of George Washington Parke Custis… He watched over Arlington… before the Civil War. [He] knew Gen. Robert E. Lee… [and] following the war, settled there… the remainder of his life. Five of his sons served with the American Forces during the World War.”

Photo: James Parks. Credit: National Park Service.

Read his story in the Evening Star (Washington D.C.), 23 August 1929, page 9.

Barr, Caroline “Mammy Callie” (1840-1940)
Mississippi

According to the Wikipedia article about William Faulkner:

“His family, particularly his mother Maud, his maternal grandmother Lelia Butler, and Caroline ‘Callie’ Barr (the black nanny who raised him from infancy) crucially influenced the development of [William] Faulkner’s artistic imagination.”

–Wikipedia

Read her story from the State (Columbia, South Carolina), 5 February 1940, page 8.

He was a U.S. Senator from Mississippi, serving from 1875 to 1881. Very active in politics, he was elected to multiple positions:

“At the 1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Bruce became the first African American to win any votes for national office at a major party’s nominating convention, with eight votes for vice president.”

Read his story in the New York Herald Tribune (New York City, New York), 18 March 1898, page 7.

Carter, Fannie “Aunty” (1830-1932)
Tennessee, Texas

“Former Slave, 102, Passes.” Born in slavery in Murry County, Tennessee, and moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1845. After the dress she wanted to be buried in was stolen, Mrs. John Field, the daughter of her previous owner, Obadiah Knight, gave her a shroud which she “treasured above all other remaining possessions and which she kept constantly with her until death.”

Read her story in the Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 16 October 1932, page 7.

It was front page news in the Daily Advocate (Stamford, Connecticut) when religious book sellers stopped by William Kemp’s home in 1904, selling copies of the multivolume book Millennial Dawn by Charles T. Russell. According to the newspaper:

“Mr. Camp [correction: Kemp] read only a few pages when he decided to burn it.”

]]>Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega celebrates Valentine’s Day by researching some of our ancestors’ valentine cards. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

I’ve always loved old Valentine’s Day cards. Although I like all old cards, including very early ones, mid- to late-20th century Valentine’s Day cards are some of my favorites. I wish I could find one of the large books of pages of valentines you could cut out and give to your teacher and fellow classmates, like they had when I was a kid. I remember feeling bad that my parents wouldn’t buy the pre-cut valentines (they cost more), but today I would love to have one of those large books with their pages and pages of different Valentine’s Day greetings.

Photo: Valentine’s Day card from 1947. Credit: the Houston County, Tennessee, Archives.

Sending valentine wishes actually dates back to the 18th century. It was in the 20th century that handmade sentiments or letters were replaced by printed cards that could be purchased.*

Photo: Valentine’s Day card from 1947. Credit: the Houston County, Tennessee, Archives.

Some of the earliest homemade valentines I have seen were in connection with some research I conducted on a 19th century English woman. Her friend Elizabeth Cobbold, who was an author, would create elaborate silhouette cut-outs complete with a poem and give them to her friends during her Valentine’s Day parties.**

As I look through GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, there are numerous examples of ways that our ancestors may have procured valentines. This 1852 advertisement proclaims that they have: “20,000 Comic and Sentimental Valentines: Valentine Writers: Family Note Paper: Valentine Cards…” There’s no doubt they took valentine greetings seriously because a P.S. to that advertisement states: “At my store there will be every convenience furnished for directing and mailing Valentines – furnished gratuitously. There will also be a trust worthy carrier on hand to convey Valentines to any part of the city.”

The 20th century provided not only advertisements for Valentine’s Day cards, but also a range of prices and types described in advertisements – like this 1903 newspaper advertisement for valentines that are lace or embossed “in the form of baskets, flowers, butterflies, pretty children’s faces, hearts…” Valentine’s Day cards of this era would have cost your ancestor anywhere from 1 cent to $1.50 – which would be almost $40 today!

Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, Ohio), 4 February 1903, page 10

It’s not surprising that printed Valentine’s Day cards and the images they depict change with the times. Popular culture is fleeting and Valentine’s Day cards often depict what is in style, including media characters and quotes. These 1940s valentines given to a teacher by her students include a woman in a military-style uniform that might be reminiscent of the WACs or WAVES (Women’s Army Corp and the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and other women who went to war during this time.

Photo: Valentine’s Day card from 1947. Credit: the Houston County, Tennessee, Archives.

This 1982 newspaper article focusing on the changes in Valentine’s Day cards points out that what was popular that year included the characters Strawberry Shortcake, Holly Hobby and Ziggy, as well as cats and bears. In addition, “the company’s designers anticipated the increasing public interest in Americana, from Early American primitive art to nineteenth-century quilts. Numerous Valentine offerings incorporate these design motifs. A twist on this concept features antique teddy bears in human situations.”

Chicago Metro News (Chicago, Illinois), 13 February 1982, page 14

While I remember Valentine ’s Day cards decorated with Holly Hobby and animal characters, my guess is that my 10-year-old nephew might be passing out cards with more contemporary themes from movies like Star Wars and Transformers.

Do you have a favorite Valentine’s Day memory? Have you saved a card from years gone by? I’d love to hear about it in the comments section below.

]]>Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega shows how newspaper articles about your ancestor’s engagement, wedding and anniversary provide a lot of family history. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and what a great time to research your ancestor’s love story. Engagements, marriages, and anniversaries are well-documented in historical newspapers, and they provide opportunities for family historians to find more than one mention of their ancestor’s love story. Let’s take a look at some ways your ancestor’s engagement, wedding, or anniversary might be listed in the newspaper.

Marriage Licenses and Engagements

Newspapers are great places to find lists of names. One list of names you might find is about those couples who have applied for a marriage license. This 1849 newspaper example includes seven couples. Six of the seven women are listed as Miss. The one woman who lacks a “Miss” at the front of her name might indicate that she was previously married.

Greene County Torch-Light (Xenia, Ohio), 16 August 1849, page 3

Remember that the issuance of a marriage license is not a guarantee that a couple married. Make sure to complete your research by seeking out a marriage certificate or other proof that the marriage license was used and returned to the proper government authorities. Also, consider that the couple may not have lived in the area where they applied for the marriage license.

Engagement announcements tend to provide more information than a list of marriage licenses. Consider the following engagement announcement list from 1920 that includes the bride and groom’s parents’ names and their home addresses. While the parents’ names don’t list the mother’s first name, it’s at least enough to get you started in your research.

Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 4 January 1920, page 21

More recent engagement notices might also provide a photograph of the bride, as in this 1950 newspaper example.

Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), 1 January 1950, page 28

The Wedding

My favorite, next to milestone wedding anniversary articles (see below), are articles about weddings. They typically contain genealogically-relevant information, as well as interesting details about the wedding itself and the names of those involved, family and friends, as in this 1920 newspaper article. While I love the description of the bride (“…in a stunning gown of silver lace and net, and her tulle veil was caught into a lace frill at the back of her hair”), I’m equally happy with the description of the couples’ education and occupation (“Mr. Cadman has just returned from two years’ service overseas where he was identified with both the French and American ambulance service”), as well as the names of those in attendance (Little Miss Betty Cadman, a niece of the groom, was flower girl and wore a fluffy white tulle dress”).

These 1880 wedding announcements provide the names of the couples, their attendants, and the officiating ministers, as well as the concluding sentence: “They at once enter on the duties of housekeeping in their neatly fitted home.”

Cincinnati Daily Star (Cincinnati, Ohio), 1 January 1880, page 6

Milestone Anniversaries

How long was your ancestral couple married? Have any of your ancestors been married for 25, 50, or more years? I have to admit that newspaper articles documenting a milestone wedding anniversary are some of my favorites. That achievement is one that is often lauded in the newspaper, and those articles provide rich genealogical information including date of marriage, family names, and more.

This 1858 example commemorating an 1808 marriage includes the groom’s occupation, bride’s father’s previous occupation, and some details about the 50th anniversary party. Unfortunately, what is missing is the groom’s wife’s name. The article implies that a 50th wedding anniversary was quite common with its statement: “Among those very happy and not rare occasions…”

Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 4 June 1858, page 4

This 1900 example of an African American couple’s 50th wedding celebration doesn’t provide the wife’s name – but it does reveal their previous residence: “came to Kalamazoo from the south in 1853 and have since resided in this city.” It’s a good example of how valuable these types of articles can be.

Kalamazoo Gazette (Kalamazoo, Michigan), 21 January 1900, page 2

I can’t resist sharing one more 1900 example. In some cases, you will find photos of the anniversary couple accompanying the newspaper article about their anniversary celebration. I love this example that documents the couple via an illustration. One of my favorite lines in this newspaper article has to do with their immigration to the United States: “the aged couple were lovers in childhood in Germany and came to Cincinnati direct in 1847, taking up their residence in the West End.”

Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, Ohio), 1 January 1900, page 7

Find Your Ancestor’s Stories

Now it’s your turn! What articles have you found in the newspaper about your ancestral couples? Any mentions of an engagement, wedding, or a milestone anniversary? Do you have a wedding photograph or a photograph found in the newspaper? I would love to hear your family history stories in the comments section below.

]]>If you are researching your ancestry from Mississippi, you will want to use GenealogyBank’s online MS newspaper archives: 80 titles to help you search your family history in the “Magnolia State,” providing coverage from 1802 to Today. There are millions of articles and records in our online Mississippi newspaper archives!
Photo: sunset on the Ross Barnett Reservoir in Brandon, Mississippi. Credit: Eskimo.the; Wikimedia Commons.

Dig deep into our online archives and search for historical and recent obituaries and other news articles about your ancestors from Mississippi in these newspapers. Our MS newspapers are divided into two collections: Historical Newspapers (complete paper) and Recent Obituaries (obituaries only).

Here is a complete list of Mississippi newspapers in the online archives. Each newspaper title in this list is an active link that will take you directly to that paper’s search page, where you can begin searching for your ancestors by surnames, dates, keywords and more. The MS newspaper titles are listed alphabetically by city.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/mississippi-archives-80-newspapers-for-genealogy-research.html/feed0How to Find Your Cousins Using Only a Last Name and a Hometownhttps://blog.genealogybank.com/how-to-find-your-cousins-using-only-a-last-name-and-a-hometown.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/how-to-find-your-cousins-using-only-a-last-name-and-a-hometown.html#commentsFri, 09 Feb 2018 19:33:43 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=29037An article by Thomas Jay Kemp about searching old newspapers to learn more about his Sniffen ancestors from Westchester County, New York.

]]>In my last few posts, I’ve shared strategies I used to find records on my Sniffen cousins from Westchester County, New York. Today I’m using a different strategy: I’m simply searching GenealogyBank for the last name “Sniffen” with the keyword “Westchester” to see what other Sniffen cousins I can find that might not be in my notes.
Source: GenealogyBank

This search came up with several interesting Sniffen cousins.

The following Westchester County news article mentions a meeting of the Women’s Afternoon Euchre Club at which Mrs. D. Austin Sniffen won second prize.

After a quick FamilySearch query for “D Austin Sniffen” I found my cousin David Austin Sniffen (1873-1950) of White Plains, Westchester County, New York, and his first wife Helen (Farley) Sniffen (1867-), to which this article probably refers.

This next article from the New York Tribune writes about an upcoming “sociable” at the White Plains Presbyterian Church at which many of my Sniffen cousins would participate.

“The idea will be to reproduce, as far as possible, old-time customs, costumes and cooking. Old-time songs and hymns, pitched by a tuning fork, will be sung, after which Miss Addie Sniffen, daughter of Deacon Theodore Sniffen, will give piano solos… selections of music arranged for eight hands [will] be played by Deacon Henry O. Sniffen and his wife, Charles Sniffen and Miss Julia Sniffen.”

“SNIFFEN. – On Wednesday, January 21, 1890, Eliza A. Lawrence, wife of the late Allen M. Sniffen, in the 76th year of her age.”

A good find. I did not have her date of death – now thanks to this obituary record I can add that information to the family tree.

Genealogy Tip: Search using one of your family surnames and the name of the town or county where they lived to discover cousins you may not already know about. By bringing together every possible cousin, you can extend and map out the family tree – lining up the information until you can confirm or exclude each one from your family tree.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/how-to-find-your-cousins-using-only-a-last-name-and-a-hometown.html/feed2February Update: GenealogyBank Just Added New Content from 103 Titles!https://blog.genealogybank.com/february-update-genealogybank-just-added-new-content-from-103-titles.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/february-update-genealogybank-just-added-new-content-from-103-titles.html#commentsFri, 09 Feb 2018 14:47:59 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=29009An article (with a complete title list) about the new content from 103 newspapers from 30 states added to GenealogyBank in February 2018.

]]>Every day, GenealogyBank is working hard to digitize more newspapers and obituaries, expanding our collection to give you the largest newspaper archives for family history research available online. We just completed adding new content from 103 newspaper titles, vastly increasing our content coverage from coast to coast!

Here are some of the details about our most recent U.S. newspaper additions:

A total of 103 titles from 30 states

51 of these titles are newspapers added to GenealogyBank for the first time

We’ve shown the newspaper issue date ranges in the list below so that you can determine if the newly added content is relevant to your personal genealogy research

To see our newspaper archives’ complete title list of more than 7,000 newspapers, click here.

Here is the complete title list of the content newly added in February.

Genealogy Tip: One of the ways to take advantage of the fact that GenealogyBank is always adding new content is to use a feature on the newspapers’ search results page that lets you search just on the content added since a certain time. With this feature, found along the left-hand side of the search results page, you can search only on the newest content – even newspaper articles GenealogyBank added within the past week!

GenealogyBank adds new content to its Historical Newspaper Archives constantly, so keep searching. And good luck with your family history research!

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/february-update-genealogybank-just-added-new-content-from-103-titles.html/feed2Using an Obituary and Old Postcards to Piece Together My Great-Aunt’s Life Storyhttps://blog.genealogybank.com/using-an-obituary-and-old-postcards-to-piece-together-my-great-aunts-life-story.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/using-an-obituary-and-old-postcards-to-piece-together-my-great-aunts-life-story.html#commentsThu, 08 Feb 2018 15:56:50 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=28979An article by Thomas Jay Kemp about researching his great-great-aunt Mary Stark (1822-1903) using old newspapers and post cards.

]]>Recently I’ve been researching my Stark relatives, who immigrated to Darien, Fairfield County, Connecticut, from County Limerick, Ireland, in about 1850. I’ve written about my great-great-uncles Henry and Andrew Stark, but today I decided to search GenealogyBank for their sister Mary Stark (1822-1903), my great-great-aunt.

Women are sometimes more difficult to find information on because their surnames often change upon marriage, so it can be hard to know which last name to search for. In Mary’s case, no spouse was listed on her FamilySearch record, so I was hopeful that I would be able to find information about her.

I know from my notes that Mary died in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, in 1903, so I used “Stamford” as a keyword when I searched for her name. In this initial search, I was hoping to locate an obituary for Mary, and I kept the date range pretty close to her lifespan.

The “Old Town Hall” – horse-drawn wagons – it was a quieter time in Stamford, Connecticut.

Genealogy Tip: Using old newspaper articles such as obituaries, and photographs like those found in old postcards, can be a great way to get a clearer picture of who your ancestors were and what their lives were like. Find and document your family stories – write them down and preserve them online.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/using-an-obituary-and-old-postcards-to-piece-together-my-great-aunts-life-story.html/feed6On This Day: African American Fights Exclusion from Univ. of Alabamahttps://blog.genealogybank.com/on-this-day-african-american-fights-exclusion-from-univ-of-alabama.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/on-this-day-african-american-fights-exclusion-from-univ-of-alabama.html#respondWed, 07 Feb 2018 18:32:15 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=28921An article about Autherine Lucy, who in February 1956 became the first African American student to attend a white university or public school in Alabama.

]]>The history of the Civil Rights Movement in America is filled with stories of brave individuals who stood up for their rights in the face of hatred and racism. One such courageous fighter is Autherine Juanita Lucy, who in February 1956 became the first African American student to attend a white university or public school in Alabama.
Photo: Autherine Lucy in a press conference with Roy Wilkins, Executive Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and Thurgood Marshall, Director and Special Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, 2 March 1956. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

It had taken her four long years of perseverance and legal battles to be admitted to the University of Alabama, but her presence on the all-white campus stirred up such a frenzy of hateful rioters that after only four days, the university ordered her exclusion “until further notice” due to safety considerations.

Undaunted, Lucy informed the university on 7 February 1956 that unless she was reinstated within 48 hours, she would sue the school and its administrators for barring her from attending classes. The university had a real fight – and fighter – on its hands.

Lucy was a true pioneer. She began her fight to attend the University of Alabama in 1952, two years before the U.S. Supreme Court issued its historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision, ruling that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. In support of Lucy’s court battle, the Supreme Court issued another ruling on 10 October 1955 telling the University of Alabama it could not deny admittance to a student on the basis of race.

Armed with this legal victory, Lucy attended her first class at the university on Friday, 3 February 1956, even though the university barred her from using the dining halls and dormitories. She also attended classes Saturday morning and Monday morning. Throughout this time, however, ugly racial riots exploded on campus and in downtown Tuscaloosa. Lucy was taunted and pelted with eggs and rocks, while demonstrators chanted “Keep ’Bama white!”

Photo: University of Alabama students burn desegregation literature during demonstration in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 6 February 1956, against the enrollment of Autherine Lucy, an African American student. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

On Monday evening, the university’s board of trustees issued their infamous order excluding Lucy “until further notice.” The next day, February 7, Lucy responded with her ultimatum to be reinstated within 48 hours or there would be further legal action. The university refused to budge, and Lucy filed suit.

Although the court ruled that Lucy had to be reinstated, the university used her lawsuit as justification for permanently expelling Lucy – saying her lawsuit had “slandered” the school. Lucy and her supporters, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, decided there was no point to any further legal action.

It was not until 1980 that the University of Alabama finally rescinded her expulsion, and in 1992 the proud, determined Autherine Lucy earned her Masters degree in Elementary Education from the University of Alabama. The school now has an endowed scholarship honoring her, and her portrait hangs in the student union.

The following seven newspaper articles – four news stories and three editorials – give a variety of perspectives on Lucy’s fight for her right to be educated at her state’s university.

Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Georgia), 7 February 1956, page 1

Here is a transcription of this article:

At Alabama

Negro Coed Is Ousted after Riot

TUSCALOOSA, Ala., Feb. 6 (AP) – The University of Alabama Board of Trustees tonight ordered its first Negro student barred from classes until further notice as a safety measure.

The order was announced as hundreds of students and others began a new demonstration against admission of a Negro coed.

Autherine Lucy, 26-year-old Negro secretary, attended her first classes Friday after being admitted as a student in obedience to a federal court order.

Demonstrations which began Friday night reached a peak of violence today [Monday], when university officials escorting her were struck with eggs, rocks and mudballs, and cursed as “nigger-loving ______.”

A brief announcement by the trustees said they were acting “for the safety of other students, and of faculty members of the University of Alabama, and only for that reason, and exercising the police power of the University of Alabama for the safety of those on the campus.”

Spattered with eggs

Tuscaloosa Police Chief W. C. Tompkins was spattered with eggs as he directed officers in breaking up hundreds of students who gathered around the flagpole in the heart of downtown Tuscaloosa tonight.

Miss Lucy was struck by eggs while being escorted across the campus this morning, and windows of the car in which she rode were smashed.

Highway patrol officers slipped her away at the height of the demonstration when more than 3,000 students and others were on the campus. Her attorney said whether she returned to classes tomorrow would depend on whether “the situation is under control.”

Dr. O. C. Carmichael, university president, told faculty members at an emergency meeting that “if we cannot operate under law and order it may be necessary to close up shop.”

The university Board of Trustees held a closed meeting tonight. Newsmen who attempted to enter the session were barred.

Three nonstudents were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct following the violent campus demonstration.

Miss Lucy attended morning classes but telephoned her attorney that school officials advised her not to go to afternoon classes.

Miss Lucy was driven away from Graves Hall under heavy police escort while members of the mob around the building were distracted by a daring Negro decoy.

An unidentified Negro man attracted the attention of the crowd by standing in front of Union Hall across the street from Graves.

He strolled away along University Ave. As those nearest to him began closing in Tuscaloosa police hustled him into a car before he was harmed although some men struck at him.

Peter Kihss, New York Times newsman who had been talking with the man, was struck by eggs.

While attention of the mob was drawn elsewhere, Miss Lucy was hurried into a waiting car and driven off by a highway patrolman. Six other officers followed in another car.

The crowd began thinning out as word spread the woman had left. A few remaining threw eggs and tomatoes at passing cars and buses in which Negroes were riding.

Note: That same day, the Augusta Chronicle ran this editorial, saying that the tragedy is not that Lucy was being denied her rights, but rather that the courts were usurping states’ rights by interfering with the University of Alabama’s discriminatory admittance policy.

Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Georgia), 7 February 1956, page 4

Here is a transcription of this article:

Alabama Incident

At the time that the Supreme Court issued its anti-segregation edict, the warnings of thoughtful persons were ignored. Those who are bent on forcing racial integration – now – and upsetting overnight long-practiced social customs, traditions, and mores, clenched their fists, in a gesture of determination, and declared that it WILL be done – at all costs.

Well, some of these tragic costs are already beginning to be counted. The picture which is being unfolded at the University of Alabama, where a Negro woman broke the color line for the first time, is anything but a pretty one.

One cannot sanction violence, or approve mob action, or countenance bullying tactics, but what is happening to this Negro student at the University of Alabama cannot be ignored or glossed over. So far, there have been three sizable demonstrations against her presence in the University classrooms, the latest involving an egg shower by an angry crowd. She has to be escorted to and from classrooms by policemen, who also find it necessary to block off the street wherever she passes as insulting and derisive cries go up from the crowds. The situation is deplorable all around.

The courts can issue legal edicts, and declare that they must be enforced, but the courts cannot dictate human nature and regulate the feelings of human beings.

It is the great tragedy of our time that the Supreme Court has seen fit to issue a sociological decision which is bound to create ill-will, bring bad relations between our people, as the University of Alabama incident proves, and provide the medium for violence.

It is nothing less than tragic that the Supreme Court has furnished both the dynamite and the match by usurping the power of the various states to operate their schools, and other public facilities, in a manner best fitted to the needs and the welfare of all of their people. For this the court must bear the onus for ushering in an unhappy and tragic era in our history whereas before its decision, all was going well.

Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, Washington), 7 February 1956, page 2

Here is a transcription of this article:

Negro Co-ed May Sue Over Exclusion

By Associated Press.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala., Feb. 7. – A Negro student, who was excluded from the University of Alabama last night, informed the school today she will “take further legal action, unless she is reinstated within 48 hours.”

Arthur D. Shores, attorney for the co-ed, Autherine Lucy, gave the statement to newsmen in Birmingham.

The angry mobs which committed numerous acts of violence yesterday against the admission of the 26-year-old Birmingham secretary were missing from the campus today.

Miss Lucy was admitted by O. C. Carmichael, university president, last week under a Federal District Court order. Disturbances began Friday night, some 12 hours after she attended her first class.

A board statement said the action was taken “in view of recent occurrences on the campus… and the acts and threats of violence participated in by outsiders, for the safety of Autherine Lucy, a student recently admitted under the order of the Federal Court, and for the safety of other students, and of faculty members of the University of Alabama, and only for that reason…”

By invoking the police power of the university, the trustees laid the groundwork for a legal defense, if they are charged with violating terms of a 1955 court order opening the school to Negro students.

Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Georgia), 8 February 1956, page 4

Here is a transcription of this article:

Not the Right Way

News dispatches from Alabama report that rioting crowds, protesting admission of the Negro student, Autherine Lucy, to the University of Alabama, are expressing their resentment by bombarding her with eggs and rocks.

Why waste good food material in such irresponsible action?

Eggs should be broken into the frying pan or mixing bowl to provide breakfast or cakes for human beings, not as ammunition against people.

Spattered eggs will not protect the Constitution of the United States.

What is needed in the critical situation that now confronts us is decisive, intelligent action to enforce the rights of the states against the encroachments of illegally-assumed court authority and encroachments of a strongly centralized and highly biased government.

The efforts of sane leaders to work out peaceful solutions to dangerously explosive problems will be wrecked by violence and unintelligent mob action directed against single individuals.

To drive Autherine Lucy from the University of Alabama will not eradicate an issue that involves the rights of millions of Americans, for whom the Constitution of the United States has always served as a bulwark of liberty and justice under law.

The fight that must be made must be based on the large issue of the right of the states to govern themselves in all matters in which responsibility was not delegated to the central government.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) – Demonstrators who rocked the University of Alabama campus with a day of violence won a victory last night when a Negro coed was excluded from classes “until further notice.”

The announcement of the University Board of Trustees was made late last night while about 1,000 students and others surged across the campus and for a time defied police firing tear gas.

The disturbances began Friday night after Autherine Lucy, 26-year-old Birmingham Negro, was admitted to classes in obedience to a federal court order.

Miss Lucy was not available for immediate comment on the board’s decision, reached at an emergency meeting closed to newspapermen.

‘In View of Occurrences’

A board statement said the action was taken “in view of recent occurrences on the campus… and the acts and threats of violence participated in by outsiders, for the safety of Autherine Lucy, a student recently admitted under the order of the federal court, and for the safety of other students, and of faculty members of the University of Alabama, and only for that reason…”

The statement said further that the board, “exercising the police power of the University of Alabama for the safety of those on the campus… excludes Autherine Lucy until further notice from attending classes at the university.”

By invoking the police power of the university, the trustees laid the groundwork for a legal defense if they are charged with violating terms of a 1955 federal court order opening the school to Negro students.

While most of those taking part in the demonstrations appeared to be students, Dean of Men Louis Corson said the disorder was led by a “hard core” of outsiders.

Workers from a Tuscaloosa area tire plant and foundry were identified on the campus yesterday when university officials were cursed and struck with rocks and eggs. Windows of a car in which Miss Lucy was driven across the campus were smashed.

Dr. O. C. Carmichael, university president, had told faculty members that unless law and order were restored on the campus, “it may be necessary to close up shop.” He later said there was “reasonable hope that order will shortly be restored.”

Last night’s demonstration began after the Alabama-Vanderbilt basketball game.

‘Keep ’Bama White’

Hundreds of students and others assembled at the flagpole square in the heart of downtown Tuscaloosa, chanting “Keep ’Bama white.” Police Chief W. C. Tompkins was spattered with an egg as he directed his officers in moving the demonstrators out of the street.

The crowd next swarmed back to the university campus, where a group went to the home of Dr. Carmichael. When Mrs. Carmichael appeared on a balcony and said her husband was at a meeting, members of the crowd threw gravel and at least one egg at her.

Some tried to force their way up to the balcony but were held back by a handful of the students led by Walter Flowers of Tuscaloosa, president of the student body.

A student in Flowers’ group of defenders was heard to exclaim, “It’s a shame – there are only about 5 percent of them students.”

More hundreds, some waving Confederate flags, milled around near the school’s Union Building and refused to obey police orders to disperse.

When officers fired tear gas shells, members of the mob put handkerchiefs over their faces and began shooting firecrackers.

The demonstration began breaking up about midnight as news of the trustees’ action spread.

Crowd over 3,000

Crowds estimated at more than 3,000 demonstrated on the campus yesterday when Miss Lucy attended classes for the third day. She slipped away under heavy police escort after attending two morning classes and returned to Birmingham.

The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People called on Gov. James E. Folsom to “use full powers” of his office to maintain order at the university and protect Miss Lucy.

Folsom said at Montgomery that he does not plan to call out the National Guard to quell the disorders, but the state “stands ready at all times to meet with any situation properly.”

Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 8 February 1956, page 1

Here is a transcription of this article:

NEGRO COED GIVES ’BAMA ULTIMATUM

Executive Says Life Imperiled

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) – A Negro coed Tuesday gave authorities just 48 hours to readmit her to the University of Alabama and a school executive said she had twice been within 20 seconds of “stark tragedy.”

Dr. O. C. Carmichael, university president, said assistant president Jeff Bennett told him that Autherine Lucy was in real danger during riotous demonstration against her presence on the campus Monday.

“I can think of nothing worse than a student being murdered on this campus,” Carmichael said in addressing a faculty meeting. Carmichael said Bennett told him that she twice was 20 seconds from “stark tragedy.”

Miss Lucy was excluded by the board of trustees “until further notice” [Monday] night following a series of demonstrations by students and outsiders.

A resolution asserting that the university cannot operate unless faculty and students are protected from “mob rule” was submitted to the gathering of about 400 instructors. Dr. Carmichael ruled it was tabled by a voice vote.

The faculty voted on the resolution after Dr. Carmichael explained the board’s action. He said outsiders who “invaded our campus” were “largely responsible for the resulting disorder.” He said the board “dared not postpone action lest greater violence” should follow.

Carmichael moved adjournment but assistant political science professor Charles D. Farris objected, saying, “I can see no reason why the faculty should be compelled to agree with the action of the board of trustees.”

Farris offered a resolution asking the faculty to condemn “mob rule” at the school. The resolution said the university cannot continue to operate under such conditions with threats to faculty and students, and asked for civil or military protection for them.

The instructor said the resolution called for the university to suspend operations if these conditions could not be provided.

Professor Fred Ogden asked “why police protection had not been more adequate at this time.” He also is a member of the political science department.

Art professor Lawrence Calcagno said he wanted to express the personal feeling that “our university has succumbed to mob rule.”

Tuscaloosa police used tear gas to break up a crowd of more than 1,000 persons chanting “Keep ’Bama white” and waving Confederate flags.

The board said its action was for the safety of its students, faculty and Miss Lucy, and was taken under the police powers of the university. This was expected to give the trustees a defense if they are accused of defying a federal court order directing the school not to bar Negroes on account of their race.

The board barred Miss Lucy temporarily after demonstrations prevented her from attending classes Monday. Her presence at morning sessions attracted a mob of 2,000 to 3,000 persons, who threw rocks and eggs.

Miss Lucy told newsmen she was hit by one egg on the left shoulder while on the way to attend a class in children’s literature.

Miss Lucy met with newsmen in Birmingham in the office of her attorney, Arthur D. Shores, after spending the night in an undisclosed rural area.

“I am still determined to attend the University of Alabama,” she said.

“All this furor,” she added, referring to Monday’s rioting, “should not help or hinder my chances at the university.”

“I don’t think a majority of the students were involved” in the rioting, she went on. “I think it was a minority group, with outsiders.”

Miss Lucy said she agreed that it would have been unwise for her to attend her afternoon classes on the Tuscaloosa campus Monday.

“I will be happy to know I can get the type of education I desire without going out of the state,” she said, “because I want to give my services in Alabama. I think it is best to get my education here.”

Shores said in his telegram to the university, “it is regrettable that the University of Alabama would submit to mob rule in excluding Miss Lucy.

“It is the responsibility of the state of Alabama to guarantee and insure Miss Lucy’s safety, and she expects the university to reinstate her within the next 48 hours or we will be compelled to take further legal action.”

Both the Alabama senate and house meanwhile passed a resolution introduced by Sen. Sam Engelhardt commending the university trustees for barring Miss Lucy.

In Washington, Sen. Harley Kilgore (Dem.) of West Virginia said he has asked Atty. Gen. Herbert Brownell to investigate the demonstrations to determine whether any federal statutes were violated.

Miss Lucy is one of eight children. Her family lives in Marengo County, in the midst of what was the cotton plantation area of the state, and where Negroes still outnumber whites more than two to one.

She gained entrance to the university through a federal court injunction, after a court fight lasting since 1952. She already is a graduate of Miles College in Birmingham, a Methodist school for Negroes only.

In Congress, meanwhile, Rep. Irvin Davidson (Dem.) of New York denounced the riots and referred to the participants as “foul rabble.”

Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 8 February 1956, page 16

Here is a transcription of this article:

Difficult but Inevitable

The experience of Autherine Lucy is a measure of the time it will take to work acceptance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s school desegregation ruling in the heart of Dixie.

Almost four years ago, long before the high court’s historic decision, Miss Lucy, then 22 years old, joined another Negro woman, Polly Ann Myers, in seeking admission to the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. Their applications were accepted, but when they appeared to register in September, 1952, officials noted the color of their skin and told them “a mistake had been made.”

Then began a court action which was concluded only last summer with a ruling by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a district court’s decision that the two women could not be barred from the university solely because of their race. The suit had been filed long before the U.S. Supreme Court issued its school desegregation ruling, but the appellate court’s decision came after the high court’s action.

It was on the basis of the appellate decision that Miss Lucy was finally enrolled at the beginning of the current term. The other woman had, in the interim, been married and divorced, and the university administration denied her entry on the grounds of her “conduct and marital record.” Now Miss Lucy has been excluded from classes “until further notice” as a result of the rioting that occurred during the first days of her attendance. Already she had been barred from the university dormitory and cafeteria and had been commuting from Birmingham, 58 miles from Tuscaloosa.

It is not every student that would choose such a long and rocky road to education in promotion of a principle. But there must always be pioneers; and can there be any doubt that eventually even Alabama must desist from discriminating so boldly against certain of its citizens?

The score for desegregation is by no means poor. It has progressed smoothly in many border states, especially in institutions of higher education. Last fall the last of Oklahoma’s 18 colleges and universities abolished segregation. A few weeks ago the University of New Mexico, in a state that has practiced segregation under a permissive state law, hired as its new dean of education Dr. Chester C. Travelstead, who in November had been dismissed by the University of South Carolina for delivering a speech in favor of school desegregation. Incidentally, the University of South Carolina’s student newspaper has supported Dr. Travelstead.

As for student opinion, it should be noted that the president of the associated students at the University of Alabama and a group of friends defended members of the university faculty against rioters who were shouting “Keep ’Bama white.” One of this group exclaimed, “It’s a shame – there are only about 5 percent of them students.”

It’s a shame, for certain. But some repetition of the Tuscaloosa incident must be anticipated as the South moves painfully into a new era of relationships between the races. The violence on the Alabama campus is an indication of the difficulties that lie ahead, but it should not be interpreted as rendering any less inevitable the attainment of a higher level of justice for the southern Negro.

Note: An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors – the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers. The same is true of more recent news. Were you or any of your family involved in desegregating Southern schools?

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/on-this-day-african-american-fights-exclusion-from-univ-of-alabama.html/feed0On This Day: Free Blacks Left U.S. to Form New African Colonyhttps://blog.genealogybank.com/on-this-day-free-blacks-left-u-s-to-form-new-african-colony.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/on-this-day-free-blacks-left-u-s-to-form-new-african-colony.html#respondTue, 06 Feb 2018 17:18:38 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=28877An article about the American Colonization Society’s 1820 voyage of freed blacks going to Africa from the U.S.A.; the new colony became Liberia in 1847.

]]>Accompanied by the 32-gun warship USS Cyane, the Elizabeth sailed out of New York Harbor on 6 February 1820 on a pioneering voyage with an unusual passenger list: 88 free African American emigrants supervised by three white agents from the American Colonization Society (ACS). Their destination: the coast of Africa, where the ACS hoped to found a colony to pursue its goal of deporting all of America’s black freedmen. The ACS colony became the independent nation of Liberia in 1847.
Illustration: coat of arms for Liberia, reflecting the nation’s origins. Credit: FXXX; Wikimedia Commons.

Few Americans know about the American Colonization Society, even though it formed in 1816 and did not officially dissolve until 1964. Right from its beginning, the ACS was a curious mix of racism and benevolence, a society of abolitionists and slave owners who agreed on only one thing: it was better to take blacks from America and return them to Africa.

Many ACS members were Quakers and almost all opposed slavery and abhorred the slave trade. They genuinely believed blacks would never be integrated into mainstream white America and could better find happiness and prosperity in Africa. While they primarily brought free blacks to Africa, they also paid slave owners to liberate slaves and gave them passage to Africa as well. Other ACS members were slave owners who feared the presence of free blacks would encourage slave revolts, and worried their example would encourage runaways.

Membership in the ACS was a veritable who’s who of leading American men in the first half of the nineteenth century: Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas, Fernando Fairfax, Francis Scott Key, James Madison, John Marshall, James Monroe, John Randolph, General Winfield Scott, William Seward, Roger Taney, William Thornton, Bushrod Washington (George Washington’s nephew), and Daniel Webster.

Illustration: White House portrait of President James Monroe, by Samuel Morse, 1819. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Ex-president Thomas Jefferson publicly supported the Society – he had long been an advocate of colonization of free blacks. President James Madison arranged for public funding when the Society formed, and when the Elizabeth sailed in 1820 the Cyane provided protection under the direct order of President James Monroe. In fact, President Monroe was so supportive of the Society in general that Liberia’s capital Monrovia was named in his honor.

The U.S. ship Cyane, of 32 guns, capt. Trenchard, is expected to sail this day, taking under convoy the ship Elizabeth, [capt.] Sebor, from this port, having on board about 70 people of colour, and, we understand, one or two other vessels from the Chesapeake, destined to the coast of Africa, with the first division of colonists sent out by the Americana Colonization Society to form a settlement on that coast. – It is said the neighborhood of the river Gallmar is fixed upon for the settlement.

The U.S. ship Cyane, with her convoy, the ship Elizabeth, having on board about ninety people of color, destined to the Coast of Africa, sailed from New-York on Sunday last. This expedition was fitted out by the American Colonization Society, for the purpose of founding a colony, in which the surplus black and yellow population of this country may find liberty and happiness. It has received the sanction of, and will be protected by, government – and must therefore be more successful than Jemmy M’Kensie’s scheme, the failure of which, we hope, will not prevent some of the numerous colored people in this town from reaping the benefits of this benevolent and truly laudable project. – Any information on the subject, we presume, may be obtained from the Auxiliary Society in this town, the names of whose officers were published on the 22d ultimo.

Note: In 1820 many sagacious observers worried that the divisive issue of slavery had the potential to tear the nation apart, and seized upon the ACS scheme as a possible way to avert this great calamity – such as the following newspaper article.

Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), 6 March 1820, page 3

Here is a transcription of this article:

American Colonization Society

At a large and respectable meeting, pursuant to previous notice, convened at the State-House in Corydon, state of Indiana, on the 20th Jan. 1820, an Indiana Auxiliary Colonization Society was formed for that State… From the high character and respectability of the officers of the Colonization Society of Indiana, and the humane and enlightened principles displayed in the resolutions and proceedings at the meeting at the formation of the Society, the friends of the American Colonization Society may confidently look for the most efficient aid in support of their cause. We hail with great satisfaction this evidence of decided approbation by our western brethren. At this period of excitement and agitation, on other questions, respecting the colored population in our country, it is consoling and encouraging to present one to the public, in which the humane and intelligent from every part of the United States may unite; and which may tend to heal the divisions which have been excited.

Note: The unsettling mixture of racism and benevolence motivating the American Colonization Society can be seen in the following memorial, which the Society presented to Congress on 1 February 1820, five days before the Elizabeth’s departure, in the hopes of securing federal funding.

Weekly Messenger (Russellville, Kentucky), 21 March 1820, page 1

Here is a transcription of this article:

American Colonization Society

Memorial
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States.

The President and Board of Managers of the American Colonization Society respectfully represent that, being about to commence the execution of the object to which their views have been long directed, they deem it proper and necessary to address themselves to the legislative council of their country. They trust that this object will be considered, in itself, of great national importance, will be found inseparably connected with another, vitally affecting the honor and interest of this nation, and leading, in its consequences, to the most desirable results.

…The last census shews the number of free people of color of the United States, and their rapid increase. Supposing them to increase in the same ratio, it will appear how large a proportion of our population will, in the course of even a few years, consist of persons of that description.

No argument is necessary to shew that this is very far indeed from constituting an increase of our physical strength; nor can there be a population, in any country, neutral as to its effects upon society. The least observation shews that this description of persons are not, and cannot be, either useful or happy among us; and many considerations, which need not be mentioned, prove, beyond dispute, that it is best, for all the parties interested, that there should be a separation; that those who are now free, and those who may become so hereafter, should be provided with the means of attaining to a state of respectability and happiness, which it is certain, they have never yet reached, and, therefore, can never be likely to reach, in this country.

…From the best information your memorialists have been able to obtain, of the nature, causes, and course of this [slave] trade, and of the present situation of the coast of Africa, and of the habits and dispositions of the natives, they are well assured that the suppression of the African slave trade, and the civilization of the natives, are measures of indispensable connection.

…Since the establishment of the English settlement at Sierra Leone, the slave trade has been rapidly ceasing upon that part of the coast.

Not only the kingdoms in its immediate neighborhood, but those upon the Sherbro and Bagroo rivers, and others with whom the people of that settlement had opened a communication, have been prevailed upon to abandon it, and are turning their attention to the ordinary and innocent pursuits of civilized nations.

That the same consequences will result from similar settlements cannot be doubted. When the natives there see that the European commodities, for which they have been accustomed to exchange their fellow-beings, until vast and fertile regions have become almost depopulated, can be more easily and safely obtained by other pursuits, cannot it be believed that they will hesitate to profit by the experience?

…That such points of settlement would diffuse their light around the coast, and gradually dispel the darkness which has so long enshrouded that continent, would be a reasonable hope, and would justify the attempt, even if experience had not ascertained its success. Although, therefore, much may be effected by the vigilant operations of a well disposed naval force, it is to be feared that much will always remain to be done, until some degree of civilization is attained by the inhabitants of the coast of Africa. The present measures, therefore, for the suppression of the slave trade, if unconnected with others for the improvement of the natives, must be long continued, and the effects produced by them will be partial, tedious, and uncertain; and the least relaxation of this vigilance will revive it.

But those measures, and all other involving expense and labor, may be withdrawn, as soon as these establishments upon the coast become strong enough to participate in the contest against avarice and inhumanity, and shall obtain, from their evident advantages over the natives, a proper influence among them… your memorialists humbly consider, that the colonization of Africa offers the most powerful and indispensable auxiliary to the means adopted, for the extermination of a trade, which is now exciting, in every country, that just indignation, which has been long since felt and expressed in this.

…When, therefore, the object of the Colonization Society is viewed, in connection with that entire suppression of the slave trade, which your memorialists trust it is resolved shall be effected, its importance becomes obvious and extreme.

…Your memorialists beg leave to state, that, having expended considerable funds in prosecuting their enquiries and making preparations, they are now about to send out a colony, and complete the purchase, already stipulated for with the native kings and chiefs of Sherbro, of a suitable territory for their establishment. The number they are now enabled to transport and provide for, is but a small proportion of the people of color who have expressed their desire to go. And without a larger and more sudden increase of their funds than can be expected from the voluntary contributions of individuals, their progress must be slow and uncertain. They have always flattered themselves with the hope, that when it was seen they had surmounted the difficulties of preparation, and shewn that means applied to the execution of their design, would lead directly and evidently to its accomplishment, they would be enabled to obtain for it the national countenance and assistance. To this point they have arrived; and they therefore respectfully request, that this interesting subject may receive the consideration of your honorable body, and that the Executive Department may be authorized, in such way as may meet your approbation, to extend to this object such pecuniary and other aid, as it may be thought to require and deserve.

Your memorialists further request, that the subscribers to the American Colonization Society may be incorporated, by an act of Congress, to enable them to act with more efficiency, in carrying on the great and important objects of the Society, and to enable them, with more economy, to manage the benevolent contributions entrusted to their care.

— John Mason, W. Jones, E. B. Caldwell, F. S. Key, Comm’rs.

Washington, Feb. 1, 1820.

Note: An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors – the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers. Were any of your ancestors involved with the American Colonization Society or Liberia? Please share your stories with us in the comments section.

]]>The past few weeks I’ve been researching my Sniffen relatives from Westchester County, New York. Today I chose to research my 2nd great-uncle Harris Sniffen (1836-1894), who was the brother of my great-great-grandmother Emma Jane Sniffen (1841-1911).

I didn’t have much information on Harris other than a census record from 1850. I didn’t even have Harris’s year of death at that point, so I started by searching GenealogyBank for his full name in New York records.

I know my 2nd great-uncle Harris Sniffen was born in 1836 and lived in Westchester County, New York, so the dates and details of this obituary seem to line up. The details of his obituary are interesting: he was successful in business, was married with two children, and lived in the small village of Mamaroneck, Westchester County, New York, at the time of his death.

“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, the dollar experienced an average inflation rate of 2.72% per year. Prices in 2018 are 2,678.3% higher than prices in 1894. In other words, $100,000 in the year 1894 is equivalent in purchasing power to $2,778,335.94 in 2018, a difference of $2,678,335.94 over 124 years.”

Wow – so Harris’s business must have been very successful: he would be a multimillionaire by today’s standards.

Financial details in obituaries and other records are valuable for providing a comparison to today’s standards and give you an interesting glimpse into your ancestor’s life.

Genealogy Tip: Keep digging and piece together the life stories of each of your relatives – one obituary, one document at a time. Each person you document will fill in the stories of your family tree. Find and preserve more of your family’s stories online today.

]]>The 10,000 people living in and around Nome, Alaska, were in desperate straits in January 1925. It was the dead of winter, howling winds, snow and ice, with bitterly cold temperatures, had cut their area off from the outside world – and there was a killer in their midst.

An epidemic of diphtheria had broken out, which was especially fatal to little children and the Native population, and the one and only doctor in Nome did not have any active diphtheria antitoxin to combat the disease. Somebody, somehow, had to rush medicine to Nome, or thousands of people would die.

Map: the historical Iditarod Trail and the current Iditarod National Historic Trail in Alaska, also showing the route of the 1925 diphtheria serum dogsled relay. Credit: U.S. Bureau of Land Management; Wikimedia Commons.

There were no experienced pilots or working planes in Alaska that winter – and with the storms, darkness and extreme subzero temperatures, a flight would have almost no chance of success anyway. There was only one answer, and 20 mushers and 150 sled dogs banded together to meet the challenge: carry a batch of the life-saving diphtheria antitoxin from Nenana, in the interior of Alaska Territory, all the way to Nome – 674 miles of raw wilderness in the most extreme conditions imaginable.

And they did it, in an amazing 127½ hours, a little over 5 days! (Normally the dog sled run from Nenana to Nome, used to carry mail and supplies, took 25 days.) The precious medicine arrived in Nome on Feb. 2.

Setting up relays like a Pony Express team, each musher and dog sled team carried the antitoxin part of the way and then handed it over to the next team. They had to cross mountains, frozen rivers and the treacherous ice of Norton Sound. Temperatures hovered near minus 40 degrees and got as cold as 60 degrees below zero! On the last leg of the relay Gunnar Kaasen and his nearly-frozen dogs plunged into the teeth of a blizzard, with 80 mile-an-hour winds whipping up the snow so fiercely that Kaasen could not see the dogs harnessed closest to his sled. He had to rely on his lead dog, Balto, to get them through.

Photo: statue of Balto, the lead dog on the last relay team in 1925. The statue is located in Central Park (NYC) and is dedicated to all the dogs involved in the serum run. Credit: Jim Henderson; Wikimedia Commons.

They made it, and the delivery of 300,000 units of the antitoxin, although frozen upon delivery, proved effective in stemming the epidemic until more medicine was brought in later to completely turn the tide against the disease. There is no telling how many lives those brave 20 men and their heroic 150 dogs saved, but they received a nation’s heartfelt thanks.

This epic race against time and harsh conditions to save lives cut off from the rest of the world captured the public’s imagination. Newspapers and radio broadcasts closely followed the progress of the relays. The following two newspaper articles are good examples of the attention the rescue operation received.

Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, Washington), 3 February 1925, page 1

Here is a transcription of this article:

Last Relay Driver Arrives at Nome with Serum

Kasson Fights Blizzard on Final Lap with Precious Antitoxin

Six Hundred and Fifty Mile Mush across Arctic Wastes to Save Diphtheria Sufferers Made in 127½ Hours

By Associated Press.

NOME, Alaska, Tuesday, Feb. 3. – Exhausted from two days’ loss of sleep and driving a team of dogs sixty miles through a blinding blizzard for seven and one-half hours in order to deliver 300,000 units of diphtheria antitoxin to this town yesterday, Gunnar Kasson [i.e., Kaasen] was still sleeping early today. He was the last relay driver in the 650-mile dash from Nenana.

A portion of the serum, frozen on its arrival, was thawed out yesterday afternoon and used on patients. Dr. Curtis Welch, government physician, said he could not tell if the antitoxin had deteriorated until the effects were noted. One new diphtheria case was reported yesterday, Mrs. John Winthers being stricken.

Kasson accomplished a feat seldom attained by seasoned mushers of the sub-Arctic. For two days he waited on the trail at Bluff with thirteen dogs, headed by Balto, sagacious canine leader, of the Hammon Consolidated Gold Fields Company, to transfer serum shipped from Anchorage via Nenana, from Olsen’s relay team.

Leonard Seppalla, undefeated musher of the North, met a relay team at Shaktolik, east of Norton Sound, and carried the antitoxin to Golofnin, on the north shore of Norton Sound, Bering Sea, where Olsen awaited him.

Rohn Reaches Nome

Despite a temperature of 28 degrees below zero and fanned by a stiff wind, Kasson mushed on. The storm and darkness prevented him from meeting Fred Rohn, who waited at Solomon to make the last short relay dash into Nome. He [Kaasen] kept up the pace, however, and reached here at daybreak. Four dogs in his team were badly frozen.

Rohn arrived before noon from Solomon after he learned Kasson had missed him. No word has been received from Seppalla. The former Finnish athlete is expected to return slowly, resting at villages to feed his tired dogs.

The blizzard yesterday stopped operation of a telephone line on the route taken by the antitoxin and linking Safety, twenty-one miles from Nome, with Solomon, thirty-three miles from Nome. Before communication ceased word had been forwarded, at the [insistence] of Doctor Welch, that the dog teams should not proceed until the storm was allayed, but that the serum should be taken into a roadhouse and kept warm.

During the night, Fred Rohn, one of those waiting with dogs, sent word here from Safety that the wind was blowing eighty miles an hour, whirling the snow so that it was impossible for man or beast to face the storm. He said that the ice at Norton Sound in that vicinity, over which the antitoxin was expected to pass, was in constant motion by reason of a heavy ground swell.

One of Greatest Races in History

It was one of the greatest dog team races in the history of Alaska, from Nenana to Nome. The serum was shipped by train on the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Nenana. William Shannon drove the first relay out of Nenana.

The 650-mile trip by relay dog teams over the frozen ice of the Tanana and Yukon Rivers and around Norton Sound was made in 127½ hours, considered by mushers to be a world’s record. A record of 78 hours, 44 minutes and 57 seconds, minus 20 hours and 17 minutes for rest, was made in a 408-mile return derby from Nome to Candle.

Seppalla, undefeated musher of the North and former Finnish athlete, met the antitoxin relay team from Unalaklik at Shaktolik, east of Norton Sound, halfway between the foothills and Bonanza roadhouse. After making forty miles, he turned around and retraced his steps seventy miles to Chinik, sometimes called Golofin, a village on the north shore of Norton Sound, Bering Sea, where he turned over the shipment to Olsen, another relay driver.

Olsen continued to Bluff, sixty miles east of here, where Kasson had awaited the arrival of the serum for two days without sleep.

During the harnessing of Kasson’s team the antitoxin was taken indoors and warmed up. When the team was ready, Kasson cracked the whip and the dogs sped toward Nome.

Praise for Leader

Kasson, who fought through a severe blizzard, gave the entire credit to Balto, the leader of his dog team. He said the last leg of the relay would have been unsuccessful if Balto had not been on the team. Balto was named after a well known early character in this section, the late Lapp Baltow.

Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, Washington), 3 February 1925, page 1

Here is a transcription of this article:

GALLANT RACE

Fleet Dogs and Intrepid Drivers Bring Medical Supplies to Nome

The country has been thrilled by the dog team race from the interior of Alaska to the coast at Nome, where medical supplies were sorely needed to combat an epidemic of diphtheria. The race was a contest against time and the stake was the lives of little children. The errand of mercy enlisted some of the finest athletes in the Northland and teams of the swiftest dogs. Blizzards and subzero temperatures did not daunt the gallant drivers or the stout dog teams. The call of a neighbor in distress was answered in the whole-hearted way characteristic of the North.

The epidemic at Nome could be easily handled with ample medical supplies, but the isolated position of the town and the difficulties of transportation add immeasurably to the dangers. And the distressing feature of the situation is that the little children are the greatest sufferers. Without the aid of antitoxin, reliance had to be placed on nursing and quarantine measures to check the spread of the ailment.

It was a little more than twenty years ago that diphtheria was regarded as a scourge of childhood. The whole country was in the predicament in which Nome now finds itself today. Then came the discovery of diphtheria antitoxin and the death rate dropped from an appalling ratio to almost nothing. It is only when a community finds itself without the weapons supplied by science that there is danger that an epidemic may get beyond control. Oddly enough, adults possess a certain measure of immunity from the disease. The chief sufferers are children of tender years.

The news that the precious package containing a pitifully small quantity of the antitoxin had arrived at Nome was received with joy here. The satisfaction which came from a knowledge that the long race had been successful was lessened somewhat by the information that supplies had been frozen. However, in the opinion of laboratory experts the remedy has not been damaged by the freezing. In any event it will not be long before other means are found to give Nome the help it needs. The danger to little children rouses the protective impulse of every parent in the country.

]]>On 1 February 2003, almost exactly 17 years after the space shuttle Challenger blew up, the nation and its space program received another jolting setback when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentering the atmosphere, killing all seven members of its crew. Just as the nation – especially the students of teacher Christa McAuliffe – was stricken with grief at the Challenger disaster, the loss of the Columbia plunged the country into mourning once again.
Photo: This is the official crew photograph from mission STS-107 on the Space Shuttle Columbia. From left to right are mission specialist David Brown, commander Rick Husband, mission specialist Laurel Clark, mission specialist Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist Michael Anderson, pilot William McCool, and Israeli payload specialist Ilan Ramon. All were killed when the shuttle disintegrated over Texas in February 2003. Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Wikimedia Commons.

A series of successes after the loss of the Challenger had made shuttle flights seem almost routine. The Columbia was the nation’s first space shuttle, its initial flight occurring on 12 April 1981, and it had safely completed 27 missions in its long useful career.

However, when it lifted off on January 16 for what turned out to be its final mission, a piece of insulating foam from a fuel tank fell off and struck one of Columbia’s wings, making a small hole. When the shuttle reentered the Earth’s atmosphere 16 days later, hot gases entered through the hole causing the shuttle to break apart.

In the wake of the Columbia disaster, many people questioned the rationale for continuing a costly and apparently dangerous space program. One answer came in the form of this editorial published by the Augusta Chronicle.

Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Georgia), 2 February 2003, page 4

Here is a transcription of this article:

Our Debt to Columbia

If video had been available for centuries rather than only decades, humanity would have recorded too many nightmarish sights to remember.

But in the scheme of things, the technology is still fresh. And so are the horrific images being filed away for painful posterity: the Kennedy assassination, the Challenger explosion, the Sept. 11 attacks. The list is growing.

We just added one for the ages on Saturday.

None of us who stumbled onto the news Saturday morning, or were told by a friend to tune in, will ever forget the soul-piercing sight of the space shuttle Columbia streaking across the big blue Texas sky – and into fiery nothingness.

It’s amazing, isn’t it, that we can have instant worldwide communication networks – but at times such as these, it’s difficult for us to get our heads and hearts to communicate. We watched those images and, in our minds, knew full well that the seven brave souls on board could not possibly have survived. But somehow, our hearts weren’t listening for the longest time. We had to hear President Bush say it out loud.

“The Columbia is lost,” he said, hours after we should have known it. “There are no survivors.”

Except, of course, for a grieving nation.

Making the day more difficult was the fear that every such disaster brings today: When the shuttle Challenger exploded in a fireball in 1986, we at least had the small comfort, even without knowing it, of assuming it was a horrible accident; today, before the smoke even clears, we have to first rule out terrorism.

While that seems to have been done in this case, given that the Columbia was at 207,135 feet when it disintegrated, it is but small comfort. It is still a national tragedy. Seven heroic lives were lost, and millions more were diminished.

And let’s face it: Our mourning is compounded by more than a little guilt over having taken the space program for granted in recent years. How many of us knew a shuttle was even in the air Saturday? How many of us watched the launch on Jan. 16 and counted the days since? How many of the crew had become household names?

We promised! We promised ourselves we wouldn’t ever do that again, not after Challenger. But while our astronauts sometimes seem superhuman, the rest of us are not; it’s impossible to see repeated shuttle launches and landings over the years and not be lulled into complacency.

In many ways, that’s partly the fault of a space agency that has done such a superb job. The professionals at NASA made riding into the hostile environment of space attached to explosive rockets appear routine.

Yet, not even this awful moment will stop our relentless ascent into the heavens. President Bush was quick to make that clear.

“Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand,” he told the country. “Our journey into space will go on.”

People will ask why, of course. They’ll question the wisdom of the shuttle missions. They’ll trot out the requisite “we’ve got enough problems here at home” argument. And not long after the loud boom of the Columbia disaster Saturday, you could almost hear the whir of the congressional investigation engines.

Much of the questioning – indeed, most of it – will be both necessary and constructive. We need to find out what went wrong. We need to examine whether the shuttle technology is up to 21st-century standards. We need to consider all the alternatives and, as one observer said Saturday, “get decisive about what we want to do in space.”

But as for the question of why – why we venture into space – there’s a good reason: because it’s there. And we’re here. And going from here to there is what we do. It’s what the human race is driven to. And if gut-wrenching tragedy or horrifying images had the least little possibility of stopping us, we never would’ve made it this far.

We owe it to the seven heroes of Columbia to keep going.

Note: An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors – the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers. The same is true of more recent news. What are your memories of the Columbia disaster?

]]>Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega provides search tips for finding your ancestor’s name in the U.S. Census. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

As a genealogist, you’re familiar with the U.S. Decennial Census. The census is most likely one of the first records you searched as a new family historian. But what about those times you can’t find the person you’re looking for in the census? Now what? Sometimes it’s just a matter of thinking about the problem differently. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

As you fill in the search engine boxes on a genealogy website, it can be tempting to include everything you know about your ancestor: the name of the person, year and place of birth, residence, and names of family members. But that can in some cases be the least effective way to search. By adding all of that information to the search form, you’re essentially telling the website that it should find results that contain all of those dates/names/places. While it may seem like a good idea when searching on a common surname like “Smith,” it’s not the best way to search in general.

Searching for an ancestor in the census often means conducting multiple searches. You never know how an ancestor will be listed in a record, and sometimes finding them is not as easy as you would hope. To start, try searching on just a name, birth year and place, and residence. Working with a common surname? How about adding a spouse or a parent’s first name? Someone in the family have a unique first name? Add that.

Remember that the information you enter in a search engine box may look very different from what is found on the census. Don’t give up after just one search; try various searches with different amounts of information.

What’s Their Name?

Searching for a name can mean more than just entering a first and last name into a search engine. Consider that, for whatever reason, your ancestor’s name may appear very differently than you would expect in the census. For example, initials substituting for first and middle names may have been used as a convenience for the census taker. A stepchild’s surname may be mistakenly listed as the same as the head of household’s. A nickname common to the era, but rarely used today, may have been substituted for a first name. And there can and will be misspellings and errors in indexing due to difficult-to-read handwriting.

Also consider the name itself. A surname that starts with Mac or Van may be mis-indexed so that the prefix appears as a middle name, changing the surname completely.

As you search for your ancestor in the census, make the most of search engine tools such as wild cards or Soundex (when available). Try variations of your ancestor’s name. Also try to search by just a first name and some identifying information, leaving the surname out completely (works better if the first name isn’t too common). Finally, always read more about the search engine and the website’s collection to get tips for conducting the best search you can.

Page by Page

In some cases, you may need to search the census page by page to find the person or family you’re looking for.

What’s the benefit of searching the census page by page? Well to begin with, you’re more likely to find something that was mis-transcribed or mis-indexed. However, you need to make sure to stay alert as you search line by line because it’s easy to “zone out” and glance over names, not truly paying attention.

Obviously, suggesting going page by page in the census is easier said than done, especially in cases where you are searching a large metropolitan city. BUT I’ve found that doing things the “old fashioned” way we use to, in some cases, can yield the results you need.

Try Again

Census research isn’t always easy. Of course, there’s always the chance that – for whatever reason – your ancestor is simply not there or not where you expect to find them. But incorporating the above tips in your next search can make a difference.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-101-think-about-your-census-search-differently.html/feed2‘Sniffen’ Out My Cousins in Westchester County, New Yorkhttps://blog.genealogybank.com/sniffen-out-my-cousins-in-westchester-county-new-york.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/sniffen-out-my-cousins-in-westchester-county-new-york.html#commentsTue, 30 Jan 2018 16:28:40 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=28717An article by Thomas Jay Kemp about exploring the “Merwin Sniffen” line in his family tree.

]]>Occasionally, I like to pick a name from my family tree that I don’t have a lot of information on and see what I can find in GenealogyBank. Today, I picked the name of my great-great uncle Merwin Sniffen (1834-1924). Because “Merwin Sniffen” is such an unusual name, I figured that if there were any records that included this name, they would have to be my relatives.

This wedding announcement is very helpful because it not only provides me with Charles and Emma’s (1874-1949) marriage date – 9 June 1897 – it also gives me other information I didn’t have: the groom’s brother’s name: Daniel G.; Emma’s maiden name, Fuering; her father’s name, Philip; along with the bride’s brother and sister’s names: Philip and Elise M. Fuering.

Notice the surname of the bride’s family, spelled in this newspaper article as it was pronounced/heard: “Fuering.” Digging deeper, I found that it was consistently spelled in all other family records as “Feuring” – a good reminder that you need to be flexible in searching for names because they might not always be spelled the same way from record to record.

Also in my further research, I discovered that their first child was named Philip Leslie Sniffen (1898-1940), no doubt honoring the bride’s father and brother. Name patterns are everywhere.

According to census records linked to his FamilySearch page, Charles was working in the grocery business in 1910, about a decade after his marriage to Emma. By 1920, he was working in retail, selling car tires. The family lived at 56 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, New York.

Charles died 9 August 1926 and was buried in the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, Westchester County, New York.

Genealogy Tip: Because names are often passed down within families, searching for the distinctive names of your relatives will often lead you to discovering new information you can add to the family tree.

]]>If you are researching your ancestry from Vermont, you will want to use GenealogyBank’s online VT newspaper archives: 124 titles to help you search your family history in the “Green Mountain State,” providing coverage from 1781 to Today. There are millions of articles and records in our online Vermont newspaper archives!
Photo: the Meeting House Congregational Church on South Road in Marlboro, Vermont. Credit: Jared C. Benedict; Wikimedia Commons.

Dig deep into our online archives and search for historical and recent obituaries and other news articles about your ancestors from Vermont in these newspapers. Our VT newspapers are divided into two collections: Historical Newspapers (complete paper) and Recent Obituaries (obituaries only).

Here is a complete list of Vermont newspapers in the online archives. Each newspaper title in this list is an active link that will take you directly to that paper’s search page, where you can begin searching for your ancestors by surnames, dates, keywords and more. The VT newspaper titles are listed alphabetically by city.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/vermont-archives-124-newspapers-for-genealogy-research.html/feed0Another Genealogist, Another Random Act of Kindnesshttps://blog.genealogybank.com/another-genealogist-another-random-act-of-kindness.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/another-genealogist-another-random-act-of-kindness.html#commentsFri, 26 Jan 2018 15:57:08 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=28651An article by Thomas Jay Kemp about another genealogist kindly sending him pictures of his ancestors that she discovered.

]]>It happened again.
I wrote last year when genealogist “STORMDS2008” reached out to me about returning an old family photo to the family. She made the effort to trace the family history and found me, even though I am a distant cousin. (See: Kindness of Strangers in Returning Old Family Photo.)

This week “Firimar” reached out to me with old photos of brothers Charles and Frank Mayall.

Their lives were not easy. They lost their Mom when they were aged about 17 and 18 – then lost their father six years later.

Frank moved to Helena, Montana, where he was prominent in business, and married Emma Florence Kimball, a Massachusetts girl, on Thanksgiving Day, 26 November 1896. But things took a sudden turn in 1903 when he became seriously ill and went to an asylum in Maine, where he died in December 1903.

Charles married Jennie Moore on 4 September 1899 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Life was looking up for Charles, but it took a turn in 1902 when he was arrested and later released for drunkenness – accused by his father-in-law, 74-year-old, recently widowed Nathaniel Gilbert Moore (1828-1920).

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/another-genealogist-another-random-act-of-kindness.html/feed3‘Plucky’ Woman Beats ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ Recordhttps://blog.genealogybank.com/plucky-woman-beats-around-the-world-in-80-days-record.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/plucky-woman-beats-around-the-world-in-80-days-record.html#respondThu, 25 Jan 2018 19:34:29 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=28619An article about Nellie Bly, who arrived in New York City on 25 January 1890 having set a new record by traveling around the world in 72 days.

]]>Nellie Bly, a daring young woman reporter from Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World newspaper, arrived safely in New York City on 25 January1890, having set a new record by traveling around the world in 72 days. Her feat is little remembered today, but in 1889-90 her race against another woman, Elizabeth Bisland of Cosmopolitan magazine, was big news.
Photo: American journalist Nellie Bly, in a publicity photo for her around-the-world voyage. Caption on the original photo reads: “Nellie Bly, The New York WORLD’S correspondent who placed a girdle round the earth in 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes.” Credit: New York Public Library Archives; Wikimedia Commons.

[Note: Nellie Bly was her pen name; her actual name was Elizabeth Cochran Seaman.]

Newspapers covered the race starting the day it began, 14 November 1889, and coverage only increased as they neared the finish line. Their goal was not only to beat each other, but also to best Jules Verne’s fictional record set by his hero in the 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days.

As the following accounts show, Bly won the race and triumphantly arrived in New York to the cheering acclaim of a large crowd. Bisland had the misfortune to arrive four days later – and almost no one noticed.

Aberdeen Daily News (Aberdeen, South Dakota), 26 January 1890, page 1

Here is a transcription of this article:

THE EARTH GIRDLED.

Nellie Bly Received with an Ovation on Her Arrival in New York.

NEW YORK, Jan. 25. – The train with Nellie Bly arrived at Jersey City at 3:50 o’clock. Cannons were fired in Battery park and at Ft. Greene park, in honor of the event. At precisely 4:15 this afternoon the carriages of Miss Nelly Bly and her party arrived at the World office, in front of which more than 5000 persons had congregated. The carriages moved briskly, but despite this, they were accompanied by a shouting, seething mob of people. In ten minutes there were fully ten thousand people in Park Row, cheering and waving handkerchiefs and stopping the immense traffic of that thoroughfare. The scenes at the Pennsylvania depot, at the ferry and in the streets, thence to the World office were of a like description. Very few persons have received so flattering a popular reception in New York as Nellie Bly this day. It being a semi-holiday and the arrival of the little lady tolerably certain, probably added to the enthusiasm, good nature, and density of the crowd.

The young woman, it is found by the use of figures, consumed 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes in circling the earth. The name she uses is not her own. She came to New York from Pittsburg, Pa., where she was known as Elizabeth Cochran.

Here is a transcription of this article, including passages written by Bly herself:

AROUND THE WORLD

In Seventy-Two Days, Six Hours and Ten Minutes.

Nellie Bly Ends Her Race Against Time, the Winner.

Her Own Account of Her Experiences on the Way.

Pleasant Meeting with Jules Verne, in Paris.

The Journey Not Made Without Delays and Discouragements.

Of Course, She Is an Ohio Girl.

NEW YORK, Jan. 25. – (Special.) – Nellie Bly has circled the world in seventy-two days, six hours and ten minutes. She arrived here to-day, flushed with triumph and in perfect health. The wear and tear of galloping about the globe has not told on her, and the plucky young woman seems to have been improved by her journey rather than to have suffered from it. Miss Bly, instead of resting after her long trip, has written a many-columned account of her spin about the sphere, which will appear in this morning’s World. Among other things she says:

“M. Jules Verne said it could not be done. I have done it. It was only sixty-eight days from the time I left American soil until I touched it again. During that time I was in many different climes. But only here, in God’s own country, have I passed amid fruits and flowers in valley and over mountain tops amid snow and frost, all within the space of sixteen hours. In no country save America is the passage from orange groves to snow-crested mountains possible in the same space of time.

“At many junctures since my departure have I been compelled to face what looked like failure. Did I ever give up hope of success? No, not exactly. I have already told the story of my trip across the Atlantic. We had a rough trip. And many bets were made on the boat as to whether I would arrive in Southampton to catch the India mail. I took all that were offered me.

Southampton to London.

“At 2:30 Friday morning, November 22, we anchored off Southampton, and by my own usual good luck I caught a special mail train from London. I stepped into an English coach. I must say that they leave much to be desired. I found what looked to be a long piece of iron, but which I learned was a foot-warmer. They think this is comfortable traveling in England. My feet burned through the thin soles of my shoes while I froze about my shoulders. In the morning they told me it was daylight or I would not have known it. I have a recollection of dim lights, a gray, dirty shadow overhanging the city and some fine buildings and people beginning to hurry when I reached London. We went to the Victoria street station. The trip to Amiens [France] was slow and tiresome, but I was fully repaid for the journey by meeting

M. Jules Verne and His Wife,

“Who were waiting for me at the station. As Mme. Verne spoke no English and I spoke no French our conversation was limited to smiles and cordial pressures of the hand, which I considered extremely kind and friendly. M. Verne wanted to know all about the trip. ‘If you make it in seventy-nine days I will applaud with both hands,’ he cried, and wished me ‘Good luck.’” After describing her visit to Jules Verne Miss Bly goes on to tell of her trip across Europe:

Nearly Missed the Steamer.

Nothing remarkable occurred until she reached Brindisi [Italy]. There she nearly missed her steamer. Indeed, Miss Bly had to run for it. Speaking of this event she says, “A porter took me by the hand, and, without further words, we tore madly through the dark streets and along the water’s edge. A whistle blew – all power seemed to leave me. We stopped in the middle of the street and looked blankly and hopelessly into each other’s faces. ‘My boat,’ I gasped, while my heart ceased beating. And again we started in a mad race which brought us by a sudden curve, breathless, at the foot of the plank. I uttered a prayer of thanks when I saw the Victoria still there. The boat bound for Bombay was gone, but I was saved. I went aboard and started the next day.

Brindisi to Portland.

“Everybody who sat on deck was wrapped up as were the two or three couples who walked leisurely around, but to me, who had slipped from seven days of freezing on the Atlantic and two days of chilling in France and Italy, it seemed as balmy as the days we dream about but never realize. There was a good deal of curiosity on board as to who and what I was, and what my object was in traveling alone. In a few days someone told me confidentially that it was passed around on board that I was an eccentric American heiress traveling about with a hair brush and a bank-book.

A Proposal of Marriage.

“The men on board were very attentive on account of my wealth. One young man, whose father boasted of a title, but who is a second son, asked me if I would marry him, and asked me also what I would do with him if I did. I told him I would put him to work, which had rather a dampening effect.

Through the Suez Canal.

“Port Said [Egypt] was our first stop, November 27. It is at the entrance to the Suez Canal, and while the boat was coaling all the passengers went on shore. The most amusing thing on shore are the burros, on which the passengers are generally very anxious to ride. The men who own these animals call out their attractions in English much after this style: ‘Do take a ride; here’s Mary Anderson, she’s got two beautiful black eyes; here’s Gladstone, he’s got two beautiful black eyes.’ The Suez Canal looks like nothing else than a mammoth ditch, the sand being dug out and thrown to either side. It took us twenty-four hours to pass through the canal, the boat being allowed to travel at the rate of only six miles an hour, because a rapid rate of speed washes down the high banks.

At Aden.

“Our next port was Aden [present-day Yemen], and a most beautiful place it is. At a distance it looks like one huge stone mountain, and when we got there it was not much else. Before we anchored the famous swimmers and divers were about the boat. The black people are perfectly bare except for small [sashes] about the waist, and their ability to swim and dive is something marvelous. While waiting for us to throw them money they actually sat in the water apparently without any effort to keep an upright position. They range in age from rather old men to boys of probably eight years. The water about here is filled with sharks but the people are never harmed by them. They say (I don’t know how true it is) dast (shark) will not eat a colored man, so that the natives are safe. We had to wait five days here for a connecting boat. The idea was not pleasant, but I utilized this time in seeing the beauties of Colombo.

Aden to Hong Kong.

“The Oriental, the boat in which I traveled from this point to China, was very commodious and the officers most agreeable. During the voyage from Singapore to Hong Kong we had the startling monsoon against us, but the Oriental, which was making its first trip to China and was trying to make a record, fought it bravely and reached Hong Kong two days ahead of my itinerary, December 23. Christmas day I spent in Canton, China, eating my lunch in the temple of the dead, where there are hundreds of bodies, some of which have been lying in caskets for seventy-five years.

A Stormy Trip to Yokohama.

“On December 28 I started for Yokohama on the Occidental and Oriental steamship Oceanic. New Year’s Eve was celebrated on the boat. A quiet little crowd of Anglo-Americans sat up and welcomed in the new year, those who could, and those who could not trying to sing ‘Auld Lang Syne.’ We had a stormy trip across to Yokohama, bad winds and rough seas, and reached that interesting Japanese town on the morning of January 3. There was a delay here, and I went to Tokio, where the Mikado lives, and saw the famous Shiba Temple and everything else of interest. The most interesting sight to me in Yokohama was the dancing girls. I became so infatuated with their beauty and performance that I spent all of my evenings there enjoying and admiring their graceful dancing.

Across the Pacific and Home.

“I started from Yokohama January 7. The band on the Omaha played for me ‘Home Sweet Home,’ ‘Hail Columbia,’ and ‘The Girl I Left behind Me.’ The trip across the Pacific was very tempestuous. I landed in San Francisco and took the World’s special train at 9 A.M., January 21, and was whirled across the continent, greeted with kindness and hearty welcomes at every point.” –Nellie Bly

Brought Back a Pet Monkey.

Miss Bly brought with her, among other mementoes of her trip, a pet monkey. On the special train which met the girl globe girdler at Philadelphia, Delancy Nicol made a speech of welcome. He said among other things: “I thought Miss Bly would bring back with her a husband. She has brought a monkey. Some husbands can be made monkeys of, but a monkey can never be made a husband.” Miss Bly is thoroughly content with the monkey and her glory, and says that she did not go hunting around the globe for a husband.

Reception in New York.

Miss Bly arrived in Jersey City this afternoon. There was a large crowd to greet her. Arriving in New York, she was driven to the World office, where Miss Bly received the congratulations of the editorial and reportorial staffs. A collation at the Astor House followed. Miss Bly has made the circumterrestrial journey in much shorter time than it has ever been made before, and hence her voyage has a certain scientific and mercantile interest.

Note: An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors – the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/plucky-woman-beats-around-the-world-in-80-days-record.html/feed0A Look Back at What GenealogyBank Found about My Revolutionary War Ancestorshttps://blog.genealogybank.com/a-look-back-at-what-genealogybank-found-about-my-revolutionary-war-ancestors.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/a-look-back-at-what-genealogybank-found-about-my-revolutionary-war-ancestors.html#respondThu, 25 Jan 2018 16:06:23 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=28603An article by Thomas Jay Kemp about using old newspapers to research his ancestors who fought during the American Revolutionary War.

]]>I grew up knowing that I had two Revolutionary War ancestors: one on my Mom’s side and one on my Grandmother’s tree. So, in 2017 I decided to work through my personal list of ancestors who lived during the war to see if they also served.

]]>For Americans, the rest of the world, and most Japanese, World War II ended when Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender in a radio address to his people on 15 August 1945. The formal surrender ceremony took place 18 days later, on September 2, in Tokyo Bay on the deck of the U.S. battleship Missouri.

There were some isolated Japanese soldiers, however, cut off from communications and scattered on various Pacific islands, who did not know the war was over. Their surrender was to come years – even decades – later.

For Shoichi Yokoi, the end came when he was finally captured by two local fishermen on the island of Guam on 24 January 1972 – almost 28 years after U.S. forces had liberated the island from Japanese control in 1944!

During nearly three decades in hiding, Yokoi had barely subsisted on shrimp, fruit and nuts, searching for food at night and hiding in a cave during the day. He was one of the last three WWII Japanese soldiers to surrender.

Originally Yokoi was one of 10 soldiers who fled into the Guam jungle following the American attack; most of the men moved on but Yokoi and two others stayed in the same general area. The three men interacted from time to time, until Yokoi discovered the other two dead in a cave in 1964. For the last eight years of his ordeal Yokoi was completely alone.

Yokoi knew the war was over after reading leaflets the victorious Americans had dropped into the jungle, but he dared not surrender. For one thing, he feared execution. For another, he was a faithful, obedient soldier – the last order his commander gave him was to never surrender, and Yokoi obeyed that order for 28 years.

Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 2 February 1972, page 6

The following four newspaper articles tell his incredible story, from his capture on Guam in 1972 to his emotional return to Japan after an absence of 31 years. He lived for another 25 years after his Japanese homecoming, dying on 22 September 1997, at the age of 82.

Mobile Register (Mobile, Alabama), 25 January 1972, page 43

Here is a transcription of this article:

WWII Japanese Soldier Found on Guam

AGANA, Guam (AP) – Two fishermen have captured a man who told authorities he was a Japanese Army sergeant and had fled to the jungles and hid when Americans invaded the island almost 28 years ago.

Officials said the man, Shoichi Yokoi, 58 [56], was dressed in ragged burlap but apparently was in good health. He was taken under protective custody Monday to Guam Memorial Hospital at Agana.

The fishermen said they subdued Yokoi as he tended a fish trap in the Talofofo River, about four miles from the tiny village of Talofofo, 10 miles across the island from Agana, the principal city.

Officials said Yokoi told them he arrived on Guam with the Japanese Army from Manchuria in 1943 and that he and nine other soldiers fled to the jungle during the American invasion of 1944.

Knew of War’s End

Officials said Yokoi told them he had lived alone for the past eight years. It was not clear what happened to the others. Two Japanese soldiers were captured in the jungle in 1960. An island-wide unsuccessful search for others was conducted in 1964 after fresh footprints were found in the dense jungle.

Officials said Yokoi told them he learned about 20 years ago that the war was over but he was afraid to come out of hiding. He said he lived on shrimp, fish and nuts.

Fishermen Jesus M. Duenas, 48, and Manuel D. Garcia, 36, said they saw Yokoi when they went to check their traps.

Duenas said he first thought Yokoi was a village boy who is considered “strange” and runs away from adults. He said he approached Yokoi and the man dropped his fishing and charged him.

Duenas said he and Garcia subdued Yokoi, took him to the village and summoned authorities.

In Agana, James Shintaku, the honorary Japanese consul, interviewed Yokoi.

Shintaku said he offered Yokoi food but Yokoi turned it down, saying his stomach would not tolerate it.

The consul said Yokoi told him he was from Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.

Shintaku said Yokoi told him he kept his hair and beard trimmed with scissors.

Yokoi said he became violently ill three times during the years he was hiding, once after capturing and eating a wild pig, Shintaku said.

The consul said Yokoi told him he has mixed emotions about returning home.

“After all, this has been his way of life for some time,” Shintaku said. “Also, there’s a Japanese military tradition that it is a disgrace to return home defeated.”

Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 25 January 1972, page 7

Here is a transcription of this article:

Japanese Soldier’s War Finally Ends

AGANA, Guam (UPI) – The Japanese Imperial Army troops who occupied Guam in World War II were under orders to never surrender to the Americans who stormed the Pacific island on July 21, 1944. Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi was faithful to that command for nearly 30 years.

It was a chance meeting in the fading light of dusk with two hunters that managed what the U.S. 3rd Marine Division and the Army’s 77th Infantry had not accomplished – the capture of Yokoi.

The hunters surprised Yokoi, 56, as he was tending a homemade shrimp trap in the Talofofo River, 20 miles outside Agana Monday night.

Drew the Line

Yokoi told how he had survived for 28 years in the jungles of Guam on a diet of nuts, breadfruit, mangos, papaya, shrimp, snails, rats and frogs. He drew the line at snakes.

A tailor when he was drafted into the Japanese Army in 1941, Yokoi said he weaved a burlap-like cloth from tree bark fiber and fashioned himself trousers and a jacket. He said he used a pair of scissors he carried through the war to tailor the clothes and to cut his hair. He was heavily bearded.

He said he heard of neither the atomic bomb nor television and stared in incredulity when told that a jet plane would return him to his hometown of Nagoya in three hours.

In Tokyo, the Japanese government said it would pay Yokoi’s fare to Japan and James Shintaku, honorary Japanese consulate on the island, said he would make travel arrangements. A spokesman for the Japanese Ministry of Welfare said there was no doubt the man on Guam was the same soldier reported dead on Sept. 4, 1944.

Yokoi said other Japanese troops scattered into the wilderness of Guam when the Americans recaptured the island but that he found his last two companions dead in a cave eight years ago.

“I believe they died of starvation,” he said.

“I got sick a few months after I came here,” he said. “However, I pulled out of it. Another time I was ill after I caught a pig and apparently didn’t cook it very well. Another time I became numb and feared I was starving.”

His family in Japan was notified in September of 1944 that he had been killed in action. Both his parents are dead.

His only surviving relative is Osamu Yokoi, 42, a cousin.

Feared Execution

Yokoi said he knew the war was over at least on Guam because of leaflets he found scattered through the jungle. But he held out, fearing he would be executed if he surrendered.

Doctors at Guam Memorial Hospital said Yokoi’s blood pressure and heart pulse are normal but he is anemic. His hands are heavily calloused.

TOKYO – News of Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi’s belated farewell to arms, after evading capture for 27½ years in the jungles of Guam, brought an immediate and sensational reaction in Japan.

Radio and television stations and Tuesday afternoon newspapers gave saturation coverage to Yokoi’s discovery by two Guamanian fishermen late Monday, apparently the island’s sole surviving Japanese soldier.

It is likely his reception here, probably next week, will resemble a hero’s welcome, although Yokoi, 58 [56], will be coming back to a Japan in which 52 per cent of its population was born since he last saw it in 1941.

It will also be a country in which he has no family. Drafted unmarried at age 26, Yokoi had no brothers or sisters and both his parents died after the war, his father 23 years ago and his mother 17 years ago.

The only relative Yokoi has is a “brother-in-law,” Osamu Yokoi, actually his nephew, whom his parents adopted when they were informed in 1945 that Shoichi Yokoi was killed.

In Guam, Yokoi said his parents had arranged a marriage for him at home but his scheduled leave for the wedding was cancelled.

“I have no idea if the (fiancée) is alive,” he said.

Yokoi told Kazu Matsumoto, Pan American Airlines’ representative in Guam, that he had been a tailor before he was drafted and used his knowledge – and a pair of treasured scissors – to beat mango tree leaves into a pulp from which he wove fabric for shirts and Bermuda-like shorts, Asahi newspaper reported.

—Los Angeles Times Service

Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 2 February 1972, page 6

Here is a transcription of this article:

5,000 Cheer Return of Japanese Soldier

Sorry He Didn’t Die for Country

TOKYO (UPI) – Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi, who hid 28 years in a cave on Guam rather than surrender to America, came home today weeping with joy, and apologized for not dying for his country.

“I am ashamed of myself for having lived through the war and so many years after that,” said the unreconstructed sergeant of the Japanese Imperial Army.

Japan gave a warm welcome to the World War II soldier who stood by his orders never to surrender to the enemy.

Yokoi, who was captured Jan. 24 by two hunters who met him by accident in the Guam jungle, was flown home in the first class section of a specially chartered Japan Airlines plane. A hostess in kimono catered to his needs, and a doctor, a nurse and a bureaucrat from Japan’s Ministry of Welfare accompanied him.

“We’re all glad you made it,” said Welfare Minister Noboru Saito, who greeted Yokoi at Tokyo International Airport on behalf of the government.

About 5,000 Japanese turned out in heavily overcast weather to welcome the 56-year-old Yokoi – more as an object of human sympathy than as a military hero. Work throughout the country came to a standstill as Japanese turned to their television sets to see the haggard, bushy-haired man assisted down the ramp of the plane.

“We lost the war because we didn’t have enough weapons, although we had willpower,” Yokoi told newsmen, who pressed him with questions about his military ideas.

The Emperor-worship with which prewar Japanese were indoctrinated by the country’s Shinto religion came through strongly in Yokoi’s statements.

“In Guam I read that His Majesty the Emperor’s photographs are shown in magazines and that he appears in movies,” Yokoi said. “When I think of His Majesty’s inner feelings I am overwhelmed with sympathy and shame.

“I have returned with the rifle the Emperor gave me. I am sorry I could not serve him to my satisfaction.”

Yokoi, who had never ridden in an automobile before his capture, said flying in a jet was “just as smooth as riding a train.”

He told newsmen he burst out crying at the sight of Mt. Fuji, 50 miles southwest of Tokyo, and that “my handkerchief was soaked with tears while I thought of my country.”

“I didn’t have the slightest idea what a high level of civilization Japan has attained,” added the sergeant, who had not set foot on Japanese soil for 31 years.

Note: An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors – the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers. Did any of your family serve in World War II? Please share your stories with us in the comments section.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/wwii-japanese-soldier-surrenders-27-years-after-wars-end.html/feed0Genealogy Tip: Not Every Obituary Was Printed on the Obituary Pagehttps://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-tip-not-every-obituary-was-printed-on-the-obituary-page.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-tip-not-every-obituary-was-printed-on-the-obituary-page.html#respondTue, 23 Jan 2018 15:06:12 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=28501An article by Thomas Jay Kemp with examples showing how obituaries were printed on many pages in a newspaper – not just the obituary page.

Genealogy Tip: Obituaries were printed on all pages of the newspaper, from the front page to the last page. Don’t assume that they were only published on the “Obituary” pages of the newspaper. Be sure to look up and read every obituary – make sure you learn and document every story about your family. Some of them will be poignant – you’ll be glad to know their special stories.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-tip-not-every-obituary-was-printed-on-the-obituary-page.html/feed0Genealogy 101: Family History Bookshttps://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-101-family-history-books.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-101-family-history-books.html#respondMon, 22 Jan 2018 16:48:35 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=28467In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega writes about a valuable resource for genealogists: family history books – and where to find them.

]]>Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega writes about a valuable resource for genealogists: family history books. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

Family history books, also referred to as surname books or genealogies, may be a genealogist’s introduction to their own family history. Perhaps you own a family history tome that was a catalyst for your becoming more interested in your family history. Maybe you’ve searched for a copy through FamilySearch. While these books can seem like a researcher’s life saver, there are some things you should consider before using the information found within.

Family history books once concentrated solely on who begat whom; they contained mainly names, dates, places and long lists of descendants – but they have evolved over time to include stories, digitized images, and personal photo collections. In the past these books were large, hard cover, dense treatments of family history that contained information gathered by an individual, a group of family members, or even a professional genealogist. Because of the expense of printing such large books, they usually were printed in small batches with a possible copy or two donated to a genealogy library.

Family history books can be found in libraries and online via digitized book websites. Start your search with the FamilySearch Catalog and conduct a surnames search. Books that are digitized will include a link to FamilySearch Books, which can also be searched separately.

Digitized book websites such as Google Books and Internet Archive include family history books. When searching Google Books, you can enter your surname and the keywords “family history” or “genealogy,” or you can search for your ancestor using an exact phrase search. An exact phrase search uses quote marks around the name, essentially telling Google to search on that phrase, for example “John Smith.” An Advanced Search engine is also available once you’ve conducted your initial search and are viewing your results list. At the top of the screen is a Settings link, click on that to reveal a drop-down menu with the Advanced Search option.

To search Internet Archive, click on the orange Texts icon and then choose Additional Collections. Once you are on the Additional Collections web page, choose Genealogy. These collections of digitized books are from the “Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Robarts Library at the University of Toronto; the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library; Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah; the National Library of Scotland; the Indianapolis City Library’s Indianapolis City Directory and Yearbooks Collection; The Leo Baeck Institute Archives of German-speaking Jewry Leo Baeck Institute Archives; and the Boston Public Library.” From this collections page you can search for the surname you are looking for.

Use with Caution!

It would seem that a family history book has everything a researcher could want: names, dates, places. So, what’s the down side of using surname books? The biggest problem is that in the past, and to some extent even now, they can lack source citations or have incomplete citations. Because of this it’s impossible to accept the information contained within as fact.

The lack of source citations by family historians has historically been a problem. In the past there was little emphasis on documenting where you found information – or even making sure the information found was correct. Even in cases where a book has source citations, they may be very vague – like one that exists in one of my family lines where facts for several generations include a family Bible as a source citation. Unfortunately, when I tried to track down this Bible, no one knew where it was or who owned it. Each family historian had just copied the vague citation, not knowing if it even existed.

While errors involving source documentation may be largely ones of omission, in some cases they were ones of commission. Take for example the infamous genealogist Gustave Anjou, who prepared fraudulent genealogies for his clients. Some of those genealogies can still be found today and may be used by unsuspecting researchers in putting together their own narrative. You can find titles of some of Anjou’s books by searching on his name in the library catalog WorldCat.

Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas), 4 March 1942, page 6

Family History Books Provide Clues

Just like online family trees, surname books may hold clues – but make sure to carefully prove the information you find in these books. In addition, don’t just use family history books for research clues; consider writing your own family history book in which you have carefully documented photos, stories and facts for the next generations to treasure.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-101-family-history-books.html/feed0Obituaries Add Critical Details to Family Treehttps://blog.genealogybank.com/obituaries-add-critical-details-to-family-tree.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/obituaries-add-critical-details-to-family-tree.html#respondFri, 19 Jan 2018 16:00:26 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=28449An article by Thomas Jay Kemp about uncovering the obituary of Frances (Ferris) Stark, from his family tree, and learning where in Ireland she was born.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/obituaries-add-critical-details-to-family-tree.html/feed0Genealogy 101: Attending a Genealogy Conferencehttps://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-101-attending-a-genealogy-conference.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-101-attending-a-genealogy-conference.html#commentsThu, 18 Jan 2018 15:04:57 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=28427In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega gives tips for making the most out of your next genealogy conference.

]]>Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega gives tips for making the most out of your next genealogy conference. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

One of the most exciting times I had as a genealogy newbie was when I went to my first genealogy conference. I remember being so excited to meet my genealogy “heroes” and to hear presentations by experts in the field. Are you ready to go to a conference? If so, there are some things to consider before you register.

Photo: RootsTech genealogy conference. Credit: mormonnewsroom.org.

What Conference Is Right for You?

What conference will you attend? With options ranging from going in-person to virtual attendance, there is a conference for everyone. To start your selection, search for what conferences are available for the place and time of year you are available. You can see a schedule of conferences on the website ConferenceKeeper.

Some considerations in making the decision to go to a conference include: price, place, and learning opportunities. You also need to consider your own needs, including comfort and family obligations.

Conference registrations range in price from a little over $50 to $200 or more. Other conference costs can include banquets, special events, and tours. Add to that accommodations, food, and travel. And of course, don’t forget that conferences have Exhibit Halls and vendors have products, services, and subscriptions for sale. The benefit of purchasing items at a conference is there can be deep discounts on items you may have been planning to purchase anyway, like DNA kits or subscription websites. It’s not unusual to budget $1000 or more to attend a larger conference.

Which One Will You Attend?

By exploring the Conference Keeper website, you can see that there are various kinds of conferences happening throughout the year. From small events put on by a local genealogy society to the mega event known as RootsTech in Salt Lake City, Utah (Feb. 28-March 3), each conference offering is different. I highly recommend that you consider what you personally want to get from the conference experience, and then make the decision as to which you’ll attend. Some considerations may include:

Location of conference

Finances

Proximity to research repositories

Topics covered

Conference dates

While it may be a dream to attend a larger national conference, consider starting with attending smaller local events hosted by a Family History Center or genealogy society. These one-day or half-day seminars are a good way to get a feel for a genealogy event and your preferences. Virtual conferences might also be easier if family obligations make travel difficult.

What to Expect

Attending a multi-day event is just like going to a cafeteria. There are numerous options and while there are many you want to sample, you can’t experience everything (and that’s ok). Larger regional, state and national conferences have some of the same offerings, including:

Once you’ve registered for the conference you’ll attend, start deciding what events/activities you’re interested in – but remember that flexibility is the key. You may choose ahead of time to skip some of the events that require additional payment, but remember that other activities you plan on enjoying may not come to fruition. Depending on the amount of walking required, availability of food, temperature, and travel, the best plans can sometimes be thrown out the door. Add to that, presentation rooms that reach their occupancy limit or presenter no-shows, or other emergencies, and your conference experience may not go exactly as planned. So, consider having a plan A and B for how you’ll spend your time at the conference.

What to Bring

Individual preferences for what to bring to a conference are as diverse as the genealogists themselves. What is a must-have for one person is not even on the list for another. Aside from the essentials you’ll need for an overnight or multi-night stay, consider taking the following:

Something to take notes with. What’s your preference? Pen and paper? Mobile device or laptop? If you’re planning on using a laptop or mobile device be aware that it may be impossible to sit near an electrical outlet unless you get to your sessions very early.

Portable Cell Phone Power Bank. Perfect for those times your battery is low and you can’t plug in your device.

Address labels with email and phone number. This can be a great time-saver. One of the wonderful things about conferences is the ability to register for prize giveaways or discounted services. Give your pen a rest and print up some address labels before you leave home. Include your email and phone number so that you can be contacted while at the conference.

Business cards. Whether you have a business or not, business cards are a plus. Provide your name and contact information as well as surnames or places you’re researching. Hand them out to new cousins or others you want to talk to or share information with.

Your Family Tree, Pedigree Chart or Family Group Sheet. It doesn’t matter if you bring paper copies or have an app that you can quickly check, your family history will be something you want to refer to when talking with potential cousins or asking for help from subscription website vendors in the Exhibit Hall.

Snacks and Water. I know this suggestion might make you laugh, but depending on which conference you go to and its size, getting a drink of water or a quick snack may be challenging at best. Do yourself a favor and bring a bottle of water and a granola bar or two with you so that you aren’t subjected to longer than usual lines at meal time, or the absence of drinking fountains or vending machines.

Start Planning NOW!

Conferences often announce dates a year to two in advance, so start planning now for your conference adventure.

]]>My 3rd great-uncle Henry Stark (1832-1910) was born in December 1832 in Rathkeale, County Limerick, Ireland. His father died in December 1851 and nearly the entire family immigrated to Darien, Fairfield County, Connecticut, two years later, about 1853. Henry was 21 years old at that time.
Illustration: Superior Courthouse, Bridgeport, Connecticut. Source: CT Monuments.net

That same year ground was broken for a new Superior Courthouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Seven years later Henry Stark was naturalized at that Superior Court, on 30 March 1859 – and one year after that, Abraham Lincoln spoke there on 10 March 1860.

Henry lived his life in Fairfield County, Connecticut – so I looked in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives to see what more I could learn about him.

“As Jared Day notes in Urban Castles (1999), his history of tenement landlords in New York City, written leases did not become standard until the 1920s, so we have few written records for what any tenement residents paid in rent before that decade… Although we don’t have leases, we do have Lawrence Veiller, a 19th century housing reformer. For his groundbreaking exhibit about tenement housing, he recorded the rent paid by every family living on the block bounded by Canal, Bayard, Chrystie, and Forsyth Streets in 1900. According to his records, a three-room apartment on the first floor of a tenement rented for $12-$13/month (about $4/room), while the same apartment on the 4th floor rented for $9.50-$10/month (about $3/room).”

–Source: “The Rent Is Due: A History of Rent at 97 Orchard Street,” Tenement Museum

While we would expect New York City apartment rent to be a bit higher than rent in nearby Darien, Connecticut – comparatively, $15 a month for an entire seven-room house seems pretty reasonable.

Contrast that with this 5-bedroom, 2-bath home for sale on Maple Street just a few homes over from Gardiner Street in Darien right now.

Source: Zillow.com

According to Zillow, this home was built in 1898. Who knows, maybe it is similar in look and style to the 7-room home that Henry was renting out in 1904.

Genealogy Tip: Classified ads can be a great way to learn more about your relatives and the local economy at the time they lived. Start searching for them at GenealogyBank.com.

“There is something after all, in character. Something, that in the long run, proves itself the most potent element of personal distinction. It levels, not down, but up. More than wealth, or genius, or exceptional skill, or knowledge, or high birth, it compels respect and recognition, and chiefly from those whose good opinion and regard are worth the most, because they themselves have character.

“Andrew Stark was not noted for great wealth or great learning, or professional knowledge or political success. His distinction was merely that of a faithful servant and an honest Christian man, yet few of the so-called great ones of the earth have won more sincere respect or have been laid in the grave with more genuine sorrow.”

Wow – what a beautiful tribute.

The writer of this obituary thought highly of Andrew.

Further down in the article, we learn a bit more about what happened to Andrew, who died at age 54.

“He had complained from time to time for some years of a pain across his chest which occasionally became severe. Some time ago Mr. Hoyt brought him to Dr. Parker in New Canaan who thought there was no serious organic trouble. On last Sunday, however, Andrew, after he had brought up the horse and carriage for Dr. and Mrs. Lathrop and was returning to the barn, was suddenly seized with a severe pain in the region of the heart. As he sank to the ground he cried out, ‘Tie the horses,’ as if even in that terrible moment his always characteristic sense of duty had not deserted him.”

It sounds like he had ongoing heart disease, perhaps unstable angina – and died of a heart attack.

I knew very little about my great-uncle, and without GenealogyBank, I never would have found what happened when he died and this testimonial of his life and character.

Andrew must have been an exceptionally good and honest man.

Genealogy Tip: Obituaries are the best source to learn more about who your ancestors were. Find each one and document their lives.

]]>If you are researching your ancestry from Connecticut, you will want to use GenealogyBank’s online CT newspaper archives: 221 titles to help you search your family history in the “Constitution State,” providing coverage from 1755 to Today. There are millions of articles and records in our online Connecticut newspaper archives!
Photo: Connecticut River, Connecticut. Credit: Carol M. Highsmith; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Dig deep into our online archives and search for historical and recent obituaries and other news articles about your ancestors from Connecticut in these newspapers. Our CT newspapers are divided into two collections: Historical Newspapers (complete paper) and Recent Obituaries (obituaries only).

Here is a complete list of Connecticut newspapers in the online archives. Each newspaper title in this list is an active link that will take you directly to that paper’s search page, where you can begin searching for your ancestors by surnames, dates, keywords and more. The CT newspaper titles are listed alphabetically by city.

]]>https://blog.genealogybank.com/connecticut-archives-221-newspapers-for-genealogy-research.html/feed0Using Obituaries to Find Children Missing from Your Family Treehttps://blog.genealogybank.com/using-obituaries-to-find-children-missing-from-your-family-tree.html
https://blog.genealogybank.com/using-obituaries-to-find-children-missing-from-your-family-tree.html#commentsFri, 12 Jan 2018 15:12:19 +0000https://blog.genealogybank.com/?p=28315An article by Thomas Jay Kemp about finding an obituary for a child missing from his family tree, Edward Rutledge, who died in 1891.

]]>Occasionally in your family history work, you will come across a relative who has, for whatever reason, been left off your family tree.

Such was the case for me. I used an old obituary to discover a missing son of my cousin Edward Rutledge (1858-1932), who had died just days before Christmas in 1891. That must have been a very tough Christmas for them.

He had been left out of our family records. Fortunately, with the help of GenealogyBank, finding these missing children and other relatives – and adding their information to our genealogical records – is easier than ever.

I knew that Edward had emigrated from Ireland to San Francisco, so I began by searching for his name in the old California newspapers.

Source: GenealogyBank

This search led me to an obituary for a child missing from the family tree: the 6-year-old son of “Edward J. and Mary E. Rutledge.”

Edward J. and Mary (Fay) Rutledge had five children listed in the family history. With the help of GenealogyBank, I was able to locate their first child and add him to the tree.

Sadly, the obituary mentions that little Edward died of diphtheria just five days before Christmas. Diphtheria was a major killer for centuries in America, and according to Wikipedia the disease still kills about 5-10% of people who are infected with it worldwide. At the time when little Edward died of diphtheria, the vaccine was only just beginning to be distributed worldwide.

According to Wikipedia, the “first cure of a person with diphtheria is dated to the 1891 Christmas holiday in Berlin” – the same month and year that Edward Rutledge died. A vaccine was available – but it was on the other side of the world from San Francisco. “Von Behring won the first Nobel Prize in medicine in 1901 for his work on diphtheria.”

Genealogy Tip: Obituaries for young children as well as old-timers can help you fill in the details of your family tree. Use GenealogyBank.com to make sure every apple on your family tree is found and their story included.